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This is Steve Ember with In the News in VOA Special English.
President Bush this week nominated Congressman Porter Goss to be the
new director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The president said Mister
Goss is well prepared to reform and strengthen the C.I.A. to meet the
threat of terrorism.
Porter Goss is a former C.I.A. case officer. He is now in his eighth
term as a Republican congressman from Florida. He stepped down this week as chairman
of the House Intelligence Committee. He became chairman in 1997.
Mister Goss has defended the Central Intelligence Agency against
critics. But he himself has criticized the C.I.A. for its performance in
Iraq and before the attacks of September 11th, 2001.
Mister Goss is a political ally of President Bush. Still, they have
disagreed about how to restructure intelligence gathering. Mister Goss
recently proposed legislation to give the C.I.A. director more control
over all 15 intelligence agencies in the government. But last week Mister
Bush called for the establishment of a national intelligence director to
supervise the C.I.A and the other agencies.
The new position was one of the main reforms urged by the commission
that investigated the September 11th attacks. However, Mister Bush
rejected a call by the Nine-Eleven Commission to make the job part of his
cabinet. The president had at first opposed the creation of the
independent commission itself. He said committees already existing in
Congress were in a better position to investigate the attacks on the
United States.
Some observers believe Mister Goss will become national intelligence
director once that job is established. The national intelligence director
will advise the president on all intelligence issues. That is now the job
of the director of the C.I.A.
The nomination of Porter Goss as C.I.A. director must be confirmed by
the Senate. The leading Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Jay
Rockefeller, has said Mister Goss might be too political to head the
agency. Senator Rockefeller said it was a mistake to nominate a politician
from either political party.
Some Democrats have criticized President Bush for choosing a politician
who has strongly supported the administration's policies. They accuse
Mister Goss of seeking to go too slowly on proposed intelligence changes.
The congressman said last week that a rush to judgment is no more
acceptable than a needless
delay.
A number of Democrats in the Senate have said they will not try to
block the confirmation of Mister Goss. But they also said they would use
the hearings as a chance to express concerns about intelligence failures
under the Bush administration.
If confirmed by the Senate, Mister Goss will replace George Tenet, who
resigned as C.I.A. director last month. John McLaughlin, a C.I.A.
official, is acting director of the agency for now.
In the News, in VOA Special English, was written by Cynthia Kirk. This
is Steve Ember. | 
