'Reformer' Goss to lead the CIA

The former undercover agent garners wide praise, but others wonder whether the Florida congressman will be too political.

WASHINGTON - President Bush tapped Florida congressman Porter J. Goss to lead the Central Intelligence Agency on Tuesday, citing Goss' extensive intelligence experience.

The president called Goss a "reformer" who "knows the agency, and he knows what is needed to strengthen it."

Goss, R-Sanibel, must be approved by the Senate at a time of intense scrutiny over America's intelligence network, and his confirmation is by no means assured.

His selection was praised by independent experts and many lawmakers, including Florida's two Democratic senators. But the confirmation hearings, expected next month, might provide the venue for an election-year fight between the White House and Democrats who accuse Bush of politicizing America's security by appointing a Republican congressman.

Goss, 65, spent 10 years as an undercover CIA officer in Europe and Latin America, and he has served nine years on the House Select Committee on Intelligence, including seven as chairman.

"He has been a leading voice on intelligence and national security and terrorism," the president said. "His experience on Capitol Hill will serve him well at the CIA, because he's respected on both sides of the aisle, and because he understands the important role Congress must play."

Goss' challenge will be squaring his reservations about some aspects of the bestselling 9/11 commission report with the growing public and political demands to implement its recommendations quickly.

As chairman of the intelligence committee, Goss established a reputation as an advocate for increasing manpower, funding and resources for intelligence - but also for moving cautiously toward change.

During the committee's first hearing on the 9/11 report last week, Goss acknowledged changes are needed. But he also advanced a notion that hasn't had much currency: Despite shortcomings identified in the report, much is going right, and hasty action could do more harm than good.

"We cannot afford to make changes blindly, or in unnecessary haste. We can ill afford to rush to judgment," Goss said. "The unintended consequences of an action we take could wreak havoc upon our ability to protect against the next attack."

Goss would replace George Tenet, who resigned in June. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who encouraged Bush to nominate Goss, said the Senate confirmation hearings likely will be framed by the 9/11 commission's recommendations, and how fully Goss embraces them.

"That will put Porter in an interesting position, because he's going to have to support what Bush has supported, and so you'll probably see some of the fault lines being drawn at that point over the substantive issues," Nelson said in an interview.

"If he becomes too cautious about the report, then I think that's going to cause a ruckus."

At a quiet Rose Garden ceremony announcing the nomination, Bush said his new CIA chief would help him implement reforms sought by the commission. The commission documented widespread lapses in information sharing, particularly between the CIA and the FBI, and criticized congressional oversight.

The report recommended creating a national clearinghouse for intelligence data and a national director of intelligence.

Bush initially opposed such a post, then said he would support it, but with far less power than envisioned. The CIA director is the head of U.S. intelligence, but with little authority outside the CIA.

Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., the former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, endorsed Goss' nomination and gave him high marks for their work together in leading last year's joint congressional inquiry into the Sept. 11 attacks.

That report detailed many of the same problems and repairs as the 9/11 commission, and the committee's inaction on those recommendations has led some Democrats to criticize Goss as unresponsive.

Sen. John D. "Jay" Rockefeller IV, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, was among several Democrats who complained Tuesday that Bush's appointment of Goss was too political.

In June, Goss took to the House floor to denounce a speech on national security by Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry. Tuesday, Democrats questioned whether Goss could provide the independent oversight the CIA needs.

"I urged the president to look for an individual with unimpeachable, nonpartisan national security credentials," Rockefeller said. "Having independent, objective intelligence going to the president and the Congress is fundamental to America's national security."

Intelligence analyst James Bamford, author of Body of Secrets, Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency, said the ideal nominee should have no political affiliation.

"He's a good choice in terms of capability, knowledge and he's reform-oriented," Bamford said. "But there's a lot of people in Congress . . . that don't like the idea of politicizing the intelligence community even further than it is now."

Graham dismissed such criticism.

"He has what I think is the absolute fundamental requirement to be an effective director of central intelligence, which is the confidence of the president," he said. "If the president doesn't want to hear what you have to say, you're not going to be very effective."

Presidential appointees typically keep mum until their Senate confirmation hearings, and Goss wasn't commenting Tuesday. But last week's House Intelligence Committee hearing offers insight into his feelings about the state of U.S. intelligence.

He praised America's spies and analysts, acknowledged the need for better coordination among agencies and said he was amenable to widespread organizational changes.

"Some may ask, "Why has intelligence community reform not occurred until now?" I would say that many reforms have taken place over the years," he said. He added that "large-scale restructuring has been debated since the early 1990s, but without the necessary consensus - until now."

As chairman, Goss is credited with obtaining more money for intelligence - now estimated at around $40-billion - and with emphasizing human intelligence, or spies, in addition to high-tech gadgetry. He has pushed the CIA to address a fundamental shortcoming in its war against terror: its relative inability to infiltrate Islamic terrorist cells.

James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Goss has done a good job and is not especially partisan. "When you go down the list of people who could do this job, he would be on the top of anybody's list."

Porter J. Goss must be confirmed by the Senate, which is expected to hold hearings in September. Though Goss has bipartisan support, the hearings could turn into an election-year fight over whether, as a Republican congressman, he is independent enough to keep politics separate from intelligence.

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