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Washington -- The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved the nomination of U.S. Representative Porter J. Goss to head the Central Intelligence Agency.
By a vote of 77-17 September 22, the Senate gave President Bush's nominee swift approval after the Senate Intelligence Committee approved Goss's nomination the day before.
"Mr. Goss showed the qualities that we want to see in a good director of central intelligence," said Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, including coolness under pressure and a willingness to look at alternative views and accept criticism for previous decisions.
Goss is expected to be sworn in as the 19th director of central intelligence in a few weeks, according to the White House, before the November 2nd national elections. Bush nominated Goss for the post August 10.
President Bush said that he was pleased a bipartisan majority in the Senate voted to confirm Goss.
"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. "I look forward to his counsel as we implement intelligence reform, including the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission."
He succeeds George Tenet, who stepped down on July 11 after months of criticism of the intelligence community analysis of the war against terrorism. Currently CIA veteran John McLaughlin is serving as acting director.
Goss, who was born in Connecticut and is a Yale University graduate, 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 Directorate of Operations before an illness forced him into an 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. He had planned to retire in 2002, but stayed on at the request of the president.
As CIA director, Goss will oversee 14 other intelligence agencies along with the CIA. He becomes only the second member of Congress to be nominated CIA director -- the other being President George H.W. Bush, father of the current president, who served in the House of Representatives from 1966-1970 and as head of the CIA from November 1975 to January 1977.
Goss' selection comes as the Senate prepares for debate on legislation that would revamp the entire U.S. intelligence community.
The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, by a vote of 14-0, approved a bill that would establish a National Intelligence Authority headed by a newly created national intelligence director. The new director would have broad powers to move money among intelligence agencies and determine funding levels for the CIA, National Security Agency, National Reconnaissance Agency, parts of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and other smaller agencies.
The measure would also establish a new National Counterterrorism Center, but the center would not have authority to assign missions to the U.S. military.
The bill also calls for the U.S. government to establish a single agency to process all government security clearances.
The bill will be sent to the full Senate September 27 for consideration, but considerable debate is expected. The House of Representatives is expected to release its intelligence reform bill September 23. Other bills that would revamp the intelligence community in varying degrees are also expected to be debated in committees over the next several weeks.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov) NNNN
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