• Military
• WMD

• Intelligence Menu               

• Systems
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Imagery
• Links

• Homeland Security
• Space

 

14 September 2004

CIA Nominee Pledges Objective, Precise Intelligence

Congressional Report, September 14: Goss Confirmation Hearing

Washington -- The man nominated by President Bush to head the Central Intelligence Agency says he can provide the president with the objective and precise intelligence needed to enhance the country's national security.

U.S. Representative Porter J. Goss also said he can be non-partisan in his approach to the director's job. Goss testified September 14 at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Goss, the former Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, was nominated by Bush August 10 to become the new CIA director. He would succeed George Tenet, who resigned July 11 after criticism of the intelligence community in the fight against terrorism.

Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman John D. Rockefeller said the stakes are enormous facing the new director -- a nation at war against a shadowy terrorist network, and simultaneous military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Goss said he agreed with criticism leveled at the U.S. intelligence community by the 9/11 Commission, which undertook nearly two years of hearings to examine the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

"I agree wholeheartedly with the 9/11 commissioners that the intelligence community management must foster and nurture imagination throughout the intelligence community, not to stifle it," Goss said.

The 9/11 Commission, formally known as the National Commission on the Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, criticized the CIA and other intelligence agencies for not uncovering the terrorist plot to attack the United States, among other perceived shortcomings.

Goss' nomination comes as Congress is considering numerous bills that would reorganize or revamp the 15-member U.S. intelligence community, create a new post of national intelligence director with sweeping authority and establish a National Counterterrorism Center.

At the time of his nomination, the president praised Goss as a leader with strong experience in intelligence matters.

"He is the right man to lead this important agency at this critical moment in our nation's history," Bush said.

Goss will have to be confirmed by the Senate Intelligence Committee before being considered by the U.S. Senate. The Senate confirms nominations to head key federal agencies as well as cabinet officers. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has said he expects to complete the confirmation of Goss to head the CIA in the week of September 20-24, well before Congress adjourns this year.

Goss was born in Connecticut and is a Yale University graduate. He launched his intelligence career in the 1960s, working first in U.S. Army intelligence for two years and then serving for approximately 10 years as a CIA case officer in the clandestine service before an illness forced him into early retirement.

Goss entered the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida in 1988. He has served in Congress for 16 years, including eight years as chairman of the House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2004&m=September&x=20040914150707dmslahrellek0.6682398&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html