[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 18880-18881]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              NOMINATION OF PORTER GOSS TO BE CIA DIRECTOR

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I will take a few minutes to comment on 
Representative Porter Goss' nomination to the post of Director of the 
CIA, as well as to comment on the real progress the Senate Governmental 
Affairs Committee is making as we address the issues of the 9/11 
recommendations.
  With regard to the former, I congratulate the Senate Intelligence 
Committee. One of the reasons I do not think there will be as much 
debate on the floor today is that they very thoroughly addressed the 
nomination with very good debate in committee and reported him out of 
that committee with an overwhelmingly positive vote.
  Mr. Goss is a highly capable manager and leader, with a strong 
background and extensive experience in intelligence matters. As we all 
know, he served in the Congress representing the people of southwest 
Florida for the past 15 years. He has a long history of public service, 
which I am sure will be outlined on the floor later. He served as mayor 
of Sanibel Island. In 1983, he was appointed to the Lee County Board of 
Commissioners by then Governor Bob Graham. Porter Goss has a long 
career that has, of course, extended these last 15 years as a House 
Member where he held the chairmanship of the House Permanent Select 
Committee on Intelligence.
  As chairman, he led one of the key investigations into possible 
intelligence failures regarding 9/11. He was thorough. He demonstrated 
a thoughtful and fair approach in these hearings and investigations. 
His committee's findings did add critical insights into how we can and 
should move forward to strengthen our defenses against terrorist 
attack.
  So far, his committee, including the subcommittees, has held over 
60--I think it was 62--oversight hearings on various aspects of the 
intelligence community. That number is more than the committee has held 
in any other calendar year. I use that as an example to show that Mr. 
Goss takes his duty to investigate and reform the intelligence 
community very seriously.
  Despite this, he did come under some harsh criticism from the other 
side. It has been charged that he has been too partisan in his career 
as a Congressman to take over this very important post. I do believe, 
however, that if one

[[Page 18881]]

looks at his record of service to this country, that that criticism 
falls by the wayside.
  Porter Goss has specific experience working for the Agency he is now 
nominated to run. During the Cold War, Mr. Goss was a clandestine 
services case officer. He served as director of operations. In his own 
words, the CIA's mission ``is to obtain the plans and intentions of our 
enemies, adversaries and their associates before they could attack the 
United States.''
  Mr. Goss articulated so clearly and succinctly how this has occurred 
and will occur, and states very clearly indeed this mission has not 
changed and will not change.
  Mr. Goss understands the criticism now being leveled at him. As he 
told the Senate Intelligence Committee, he is sensitive to it; he 
understands the grave responsibility of leading the CIA and effecting 
the necessary reforms to strengthen our Nation's security. As he 
himself explains, being the Director of the CIA is a capabilities job, 
not a policy job.
  There is no doubt that Porter Goss--former CIA agent, former U.S. 
Army intelligence agent, Congressman, and public servant--is totally 
committed to the safety and security of America. He is committed to 
making the CIA run effectively. He has both the inside and the outside 
perspective we need. Clearly, Mr. Goss is the man for the job. I urge 
my colleagues to give him their overwhelming support when we vote on 
this nomination today. He is an outstanding choice to lead this agency.
  I do hope we do not have a shift in conversation, which should be 
about his eminent qualifications, to distracting other issues. I do 
hope we focus on the man and the job for which he is being nominated.


                          Intelligence Reform

  Let me also close in saying we made real progress on the intelligence 
reform front. I know there are a lot of people who say slow down or 
don't have knee-jerk reactions or don't go too fast or it is a huge 
issue. I think the leadership is very sensitive to that. I wish to 
reassure our colleagues and the American people and the other House--
really everyone--that we are addressing this as a huge issue, as big as 
any issue we have had to address in recent times, because it does focus 
on the safety and security of the American people.
  There is a sense of urgency that this body has a responsibility to 
reflect. If there is a better system, if there is a better way to 
guarantee the safety and security of Americans, and we know it--and we 
do know it--then it is our responsibility to act and to do it 
thoughtfully and deliberately, and that is the process that the 
Democratic leader and I set up in which to address the two important 
issues.
  Senator Susan Collins and Senator Joe Lieberman, who are managing the 
initial legislation through the Governmental Affairs Committee, have 
very carefully, and are very carefully, considering all the 
information. They have been doing so for a long period of time, most 
acutely since the day the 9/11 Commission report and recommendations 
came out. They made great progress in marking up this legislation 
yesterday and will continue on that over the course of the day. That is 
exactly the task Senator Daschle and I set out for them in late July, 
to have the vehicle through which all the ideas, thoughts, and 
deliberations can be collected, understanding there are lots of very 
good ideas out there. But it is an important vehicle, an important 
bill, and one we will be addressing on the floor of the Senate next 
week.
  The committee's baseline legislation does create a national 
intelligence director. It does establish a national counterterrorism 
center, which has the responsibilities which have been well defined in 
the legislation. It does implement a whole range of initiatives to 
improve the quality and effectiveness of the intelligence community. It 
does track closely with the plans and decisions put forward by many 
bodies, including proposals put forth by the White House, which has 
embraced the major conclusions of the 9/11 Commission.
  I do hope, once this bill is completed in the Governmental Affairs 
Committee, people take the time to look at it very quickly and look at 
possible amendments over the course of the end of this week so they 
will be prepared for next week in terms of amendments they might put 
forward, so we, over the course of the deliberations, can improve that 
bill appropriately where people think it needs to be improved.
  Just one final comment: Senator Daschle and I established a 
bipartisan task force to address the issues that look at how we need to 
reorganize in this body, so that our responsibility of oversight can be 
appropriately carried out. That task force has met on a number of 
occasions, at the Member level and at the staff level. Senators 
McConnell and Reid, the managers of this effort who represent the 
leadership on that task force, have been discussing this matter, as I 
understand it, daily.
  There are a number of issues on which we can come to agreement 
relatively quickly. Others will have to be resolved through floor 
debate and votes. That just remains to be determined, once we see what 
those recommendations are. Either way these reforms will be implemented 
through Senate resolution or through modification of the Senate's 
rules. My goal remains to get these reforms in motion before the Senate 
adjourns next month.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Graham of South Carolina). The Democratic 
leader is recognized.

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