PRESIDENT BUSH’S nominee to lead the CIA yesterday promised to carry out the role impartially and objectively despite his recent criticisms of John Kerry and his close ties to the current White House.
Porter Goss, the Republican congressman for Florida, told a confirmation hearing in Congress: “I have made a commitment to non-partisanship.”
But he faced tough questions from Democrats about whether he could abandon his party loyalties, after recent attacks on Mr Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate.
Critics of Mr Bush’s choice fear that Mr Goss would repeat the mistakes of the past by telling the President what he wants to hear, or allowing politics to stand in the way of tough decisions to protect Americans from terrorism.
Reports by the Senate Intelligence Committee and the 9/11 Commission in July accused the CIA of failing to anticipate the September 11 attacks and overestimating Saddam Hussein’s arsenal.
Advertisement
Before the same committee yesterday, Mr Goss said that he understood the distinctions between the role of director of central intelligence and that of a politician and that if confirmed he would adopt a “non-partisan approach”.
But John Rockefeller, the West Virginia Democrat who holds his party’s top post on the committee, said that Mr Goss had made “highly partisan” statements that revealed a willingness to “use intelligence issues as a political broadsword” against Democrats. The stakes were “simply enormous”, as the next CIA chief could be the most important one in US history given the war on terrorism, he said.
The Democrats are not expected to block Mr Goss’s approval despite their opposition. They had expected that Mr Bush would not pick a politician but do not want to appear to be slowing intelligence reforms before the election.