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Senate Approves White House Choice for CIA Director; Intelligence Reform Bill Moves Forward By Mike Nartker WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate voted 77-17 yesterday to confirm Representative Porter Goss (R-Fla.) as the new director of central intelligence (see GSN, Sept. 22). U.S. President George W. Bush, who nominated Goss this summer to replace former CIA Director George Tenet, applauded the confirmation. “Porter Goss is a leader with strong experience in intelligence and in the fight against terrorism. He is the right man to take on the essential mission of leading the CIA at this critical moment in our nation’s history as we face the challenges and the dangerous threats of this century,” Bush said in a statement. Prior to his election to the House of Representatives in 1988, Goss was a former U.S. Army intelligence officer and served 10 years in the CIA Clandestine Service with postings in Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe. Goss was named chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in 1997. Opposition to Goss’s confirmation during yesterday’s vote consisted entirely of Democratic senators, including Senator Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Rockefeller has repeatedly criticized Goss as being too political of a choice for director of central intelligence. “I sincerely hope that Porter Goss will prove to be an independent and exceptional leader of the intelligence community. But based on his long record of using intelligence for partisan gain, I feel I owe it to the men and women of the intelligence community to send a clear and strong signal about the paramount importance of independence and objectivity,” Rockefeller said in a statement yesterday explaining his vote. Goss pledged during confirmation hearings held this month that he would be objective and nonpartisan. One of the main issues Goss will face is the matter of intelligence reform. Prompted by the release this summer of the Sept. 11 commission report, lawmakers in both houses of Congress are working to pass reform legislation this fall. Chief among the proposed measures is a restructuring of the U.S. intelligence community through the creation of a national intelligence director. Yesterday, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee voted unanimously to approve an intelligence reform bill proposed by committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine) and top committee Democrat Joseph Lieberman (Conn.). The Senate Republican leadership had directed the Governmental Affairs Committee to prepare the main Senate intelligence reform bill. The bill would create a national intelligence director with budgetary and personnel authority over many U.S. intelligence agencies, and create a National Counterterrorism Center as also proposed by the Sept. 11 commission (see GSN, Sept. 16). “This is an historic day and a great victory for reform. The legislation that we passed today is the most sweeping and comprehensive reorganization of the intelligence community in more than half a century,” Collins and Lieberman said in a joint statement. Senate Republican leadership indicated that the bill would appear before the full Senate next week, Collins and Lieberman said. House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s (R-Ill) office did not return calls for comment today on the status of reform legislation in the House of Representatives. Hastert has previously said that he expects a full House vote on intelligence reform legislation by the end of this month. Outside intelligence experts were mixed today on their assessments of Goss’ commitment to intelligence reform and his ability to implement changes. James Carafano of the Heritage Foundation in Washington said that he believed Goss was “committed” to implementing effective change. “I can’t imagine his taking the job if he was committed to anything less,” Carafano said. While “no one doubts Goss’ good faith,” there are still questions surrounding his commitment to the recommendations proposed by the Sept. 11 commission and his views on the reform legislation making its way through the Senate, said Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists’ Project on Government Secrecy. Aftergood also said that he had been unimpressed with Goss’ performance during his Senate confirmation hearings, saying that Goss had not had “a lot of light to shed” on intelligence issues beyond generalities. Goss could also face having reduced authority in his new position due both to efforts to restructure the intelligence community, which could eliminate the position of director of central intelligence, as well as the upcoming November presidential election which could result in a change of administrations, according to experts. “It will unavoidably take him at least through the election to get oriented,” said John Pike, executive director of the GlobalSecurity.org think tank. As a result, Aftergood said, Goss is more likely to “tinker around the edges for a while” than to launch large-scale initiatives. In addition to intelligence reform, experts noted several other issues facing Goss as he becomes director of central intelligence, including obtaining more resources for the intelligence community, improving intelligence analyses and information technology upgrades. Goss must also “clear the decks and make sure that everyone is focused like a laser beam” on the war on terrorism, Carafano said. “If he has time left, he can come paint my house,” Carafano added.
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