What do you guys think of Goss?

[Korgoth]

Rep. Porter Goss = President Bush’s nominee to head the CIA

What do you guys think of this? I'd first like you to see this...
http://michaelmoore.com/
(Yeah yeah, I know its MM.com but watch the actual video of this guy, before being nominated as Head of CAI by Bush, please watch this)

After that, i'd like you to inform yourself with this:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5675992/site/newsweek/
Now I'd like to quote a few things of interest...

Bush’s CIA nominee has alarmed civil libertarians with a plan that would authorize the agency to arrest U.S. citizens.

legislation that would give the president new authority to direct CIA agents to conduct law-enforcement operations inside the United States—including arresting American citizens.[/QUOTE]

“This language on its face would have allowed President Nixon to authorize the CIA to bug the Democratic National Committee headquarters,” Jeffrey H. Smith, who served as general counsel of the CIA between 1995 and 1996, told NEWSWEEK. “I can’t imagine what Porter had in mind.”

VERY IMPORTANT!

In effect, one former top U.S. intelligence community official told NEWSWEEK, the language in the Goss bill would enable the president to issue secret findings allowing the CIA to conduct covert operations inside the United States—WIHOUT EVEN NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS. The former official said the proposal appeared to have been generated by Goss’s staff on the House Intelligence Committee, adding that the language raises the question: “If you can’t control a staff of dozens, how are you going to control the tens of thousands of people who work for the U.S. intelligence community?”

Can they do this? This is going a little to far....

The proposal comes at a time when the Pentagon is also seeking new powers to conduct intelligence operations inside the United States. A proposal, adopted last spring by the Senate Intelligence Committee at the request of the Pentagon, would eliminate a legal barrier that has sharply restricted the Defense Intelligence Agency and other Pentagon intelligence agencies from recruiting sources inside the United States.

It gets worse by the day...

 

[Direwolf]

Well the biggest point is: thats a bill. And I'll be darned if its one of the few that manages to make it through Congress without being butchered.

 

[Sprafa]

I've heard about his guy some time before being nominated, you can imagine my surprise that a week after reading he was stepping on people and criticizing the CIA just to get the job, Bush gives him the job.

 

[Korgoth]

Well the biggest point is: thats a bill. And I'll be darned if its one of the few that manages to make it through Congress without being butchered.

Well even if it doesn't make it through, does it not bother you that he is trying? That in and of itself bugs the piss out of me.... Not to mention this guy has the PRESIDENTS backing

 

[Mechagodzilla]

I figured that there would be something wrong with whatever guy Bush picked.

I thought the CIA is based entirely on monitoring countries outside the US?
Isn't stuff inside the US supposed to be the FBI's jurisdiction?

 

[Korgoth]

yes the CIA isn't allowed operations in the US...

 

[Sprafa]

Of course the DHS is already allowed to watch everyone...

 

[Direwolf]

It would bother me more if so many insane/stupid bills weren't constantly in Congress. How many times a year do they try to ban free speech?

 

[Korgoth]

my point was, Direwolf, Goss was selected by the president, during a re-election year, very close to election I might add, in his first few weeks in office he proposes this major legislation that i've posted above. Don't you think that this being a critical re-election year for the pres. and this guy being the new kid on the block so to speak, that the pres. is collaborating with him on this, or at least supportive...Whether or not they tell the public?

 

[moz4rt]

The video on MM's site may be taken out of context. He could be referring to working as an agent (which he did for many years) and not working as the director. The clip is so short that there is no way to tell. After all, Moore did skew the facts about Goss in F911.

In the film, Goss was talking about a toll free "800 number" where he could be reached by citizens. Moore flashed "he's lying" on the bottom of the screen while in fact the number is a toll free "877 number". Many people refer to toll free numbers as "800 numbers".

 

[Korgoth]

well i've seen thie clip in question on different news programs being discussed several times, and no one has said yet that it was taken out of context. How do you skew the line (and i'm paraphrasing here) "i'm not qualified to lead the CIA"??

 

[Sprafa]

The video on MM's site may be taken out of context. He could be referring to working as an agent (which he did for many years) and not working as the director. The clip is so short that there is no way to tell. After all, Moore did skew the facts about Goss in F911.

see here for the full transcript. http://michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=128

INTERVIEWER: [Y]ou come from intelligence. This is what you did, this is what you know.

REP. GOSS: Uh, that was, uh, 35 years ago.

INTERVIEWER: Okay.

REP. GOSS: It is true I was in CIA from approximately the late 50's to approximately the early 70's. And it's true I was a case officer, clandestine services office and yes I do understand the core mission of the business. I couldn't get a job with CIA today. I am not qualified. I don't have the language skills. I, you know, my language skills were romance languages and stuff. We're looking for Arabists today. I don't have the cultural background probably. And I certainly don't have the technical skills, uh, as my children remind me every day, "Dad you got to get better on your computer." Uh, so, the things that you need to have, I don't have.
-- Rep. Porter Goss, March 3, 2004, Washington, DC