Porter Goss: Dazed and Confused

Posted on March 3, 2005

An alarming Associated Press article shares the disturbing news that our CIA head, Porter Goss, is about to crack under the strain of his demanding new job.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

"The jobs I'm being asked to do, the five hats that I wear, are too much for this mortal," Goss said. "I'm a little amazed at the workload."
Goss praised Bush's choice for the new job of national intelligence director, John Negroponte. The career diplomat, who is expected to be confirmed by the Senate, will take over several of the duties currently assigned to Goss, including the presidential briefing.
Goss, who has made few public comments beyond congressional testimony, also said the legislation creating the position of director of national intelligence left him unclear on his future role.
"It's got a huge amount of ambiguity in it," he said. "I don't know by law what my direct relationship is with John Negroponte," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld or other top officials involved with intelligence.

So, to summarize: he hates having to work so hard, he doesn't have a clue whether he, Negroponte, Rumsfield or some other official is really in charge of our intelligence services, and isn't sure what he's supposed to do when Negroponte comes onboard as the new Director of National Intelligence. Well, props to Goss for the honesty, but geez....shouldn't somebody do something about his concerns?