Rob Bernard on Michael Moore's take on the Goss nomination:
Gee, ya think maybe the requirements to be a spy have changed a little in the past 40 years? Of course a 65 year old man doesn't meet the requirements that a 20 year old needs to meet to get a job in the CIA's Clandestine Service today. Rep. Goss is not being nominated for an entry level position at the CIA however. He is being nominated to lead the CIA. We don't require the Secretary of Defense to be able to jump from a C-130, hike 20 miles and kill bad guys. The CEO of Disney doesn't need to be able to draw. The CEO of Ford doesn't need to know how the run the CAD software. The CEO of Lion's Gate doesn't need to know how to distort and manipulate the facts in Michael Moore's films.
Porter Goss doesn't need to speak Arabic to lead the CIA.
He doesn't need to physically design and create the equipment that the field operatives use.
He doesn't need to code the encryption schemes that the CIA uses.
He needs to lead the CIA.
He needs to the intelligence community inside and out. He needs to know how the CIA works. He needs to know what doesn't work and how to fix it.
Everything seems to suggest that he is fully qualified to be Director. He is obviously not qualified to be a field operative, not many 65 year olds are. To suggest that not having the skills and knowledge to be a spy today but instead having the skills and knowledge he needed when he WAS a spy disqualifies him from being the Director of Central Intelligence is silly and asinine and quite frankly lives right up to what you’d expect of a Michael Moore criticism.
And THAT is why Michael "
Miserable Failure" Moore has the nickname that he does. Although, I still like The Hamster King myself...
8/10 Post
President Bush will nominate Rep. Porter Goss, chairman of the House intelligence committee and a former CIA officer, to be the new director of the CIA.
Mr. Bush announced the selection of the 65-year-old Goss at a White House appearance attended by the Florida Republican.
Goss had been mentioned prominently in speculation about a successor to departed CIA Director George Tenet, who left amid a torrent of criticism of the agency's handling of prewar intelligence on Iraq.
"Porter Goss has built a reputation as a reformer," the president said. "He'll be a reformer at the CIA."
Mark and I discussed this
last month and while I still would have preferred 9/11 Commissioner Lehman, Goss isn't a bad pick for the gig. My fear with a guy like Goss is that he is a "company man" literally and figuratively and that he might be encouraged to fight the turf war out of loyalty instead of doing what needs to be done... The President seems to think Goss will be a reformer; we'll see...if he can get confirmed, of course.
12:15PM Update
From the statement of the President of the United States, George W. Bush:
I've given Porter an essential mission to lead the agency for the challenges and threats of a dangerous new century. He is well prepared for this mission. Porter Goss brings a broad experience to this critical job. He's a former Army intelligence officer with a decade of experience in the CIA's clandestine service. He knows the agency, and he knows what is needed to strengthen it. He understands the importance of human intelligence. He was a CIA field officer on two continents. He'll make sure that the men and women of the CIA have the capabilities and skills they need to penetrate the hard targets and denied areas, and to get to know the enemy first hand. He also knows the importance of investing in technologies that allow us to look and listen better. And he will work to ensure the agency remains on the cutting edge of technological change.
As Chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence since 1997, and as a member on the Commission on the Roles and Capabilities of the United States Intelligence Community, he has been a leading voice on intelligence and national security and terrorism. He's been a force for positive change. 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 in the effort to improve our nation's intelligence capabilities.
Over 15 years of service, Porter Goss has built a reputation as a reformer. He'll be a reformer at the Central Intelligence Agency. I look forward to his counsel and his judgments as to how best to implement broader intel reform, including the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.
Well, Mr. President, we shall see... I hope you are right on this one...
3:30 PM Update
John Kerry on the nomination:
"I believe we must have fair, bipartisan and expeditious confirmation hearings on the nomination of Porter Goss to run the CIA. This is a key position in fighting the war on terror and should not be left vacant. But the most important position is one that hasn't been created yet, National Intelligence Director with real control of budgets and personnel. We need to move urgently on this and other recommendations by the 9/11 Commission to make America safer. The most important thing we can do right now is reform and strengthen our intelligence services as the 9/11 Commission has recommended. I hope that Congressman Goss shares this view and will now support the creation of this important post."
Anybody want to place bets on how "bipartisan" the confirmation hearings for the National Intelligence Director will be?
3:55 PM Update
Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert:
"Porter Goss is the right choice to lead the CIA in this important time in our nation's history. He has the right experience, the right temperament, and the right vision to lead our nation's intelligence community. Porter has been my go-to guy in the House since I have been Speaker. I rely on his judgment, and his advice is always insightful and pragmatic. He will be a great CIA director."
I assume another Republican will be replacing him in the House...or did anybody bother to think about that?
8:10 PM Update
Michael Ledeen of
National Review:
I think it's a terrible choice. Not because it will be controversial (Rockefeller's opposition actually speaks well of Goss, in my view at least), but because CIA badly needs an outsider, not someone who is part of the failed culture. And Goss is an insider. First he worked at the failed AGency. Then he worked at the failed oversight committee in Congress.
No. We need Bobby Knight.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
John Kerry Delenda Est!
