--- aliases: - Porter Goss - Porter J. Goss - Porter Johnston Goss category: Political Figure created: 2026-10-09 location: Sanibel, Florida relations: - end: 2004-09-23 fn: 10 role: representative, Florida 13th district, then 14th district start: 1989-01-03 type: member_of with: '[[United States House of Representatives]]' - end: 2004-09-23 fn: 3 role: chairman, 105th through 108th Congresses start: 1997-01 type: head_of with: '[[House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence]]' - end: 1972 fn: 1 role: clandestine services officer, Directorate of Operations start: 1962 type: employed_by with: '[[Central Intelligence Agency]]' - end: 2006-05 fn: 6 role: Director of Central Intelligence, then Director of the Central Intelligence Agency start: 2004-09-24 type: head_of with: '[[Central Intelligence Agency]]' - end: 2004-09-22 fn: 2 reverse: true role: nominated Director of Central Intelligence, August 10, 2004; confirmed 77 to 17 on September 22, 2004 start: 2004-08-10 type: appointed with: '[[George W. Bush]]' - end: 2000-11 fn: 5 role: co-chair start: 2000-02-01 type: member_of with: '[[National Commission for the Review of the National Reconnaissance Office]]' - end: 2000-11 fn: 5 role: co-chair, National Commission for the Review of the National Reconnaissance Office start: 2000-02-01 type: partner_of with: '[[Bob Kerrey]]' - end: 2002-12 fn: 4 role: chairmen of the House and Senate intelligence committees who led the joint inquiry into the September 11 attacks start: 2002-02 type: partner_of with: '[[Bob Graham]]' - fn: 8 reverse: true role: Lee County commissioner, appointed by Governor Graham, 1983 start: 1983 type: appointed with: '[[Bob Graham]]' - end: 1993-01 fn: 11 role: Republican member start: 1992 type: member_of with: '[[House October Surprise Task Force]]' - fn: 2 role: co-founder start: 1973 type: founded with: '[[Island Reporter]]' - end: 1974-12 fn: 9 role: officer and director, resigned on election as mayor start: 1973 type: director_of with: '[[Island Press and Publicity]]' - end: 1982 fn: 1 role: councilman and mayor start: 1974 type: head_of with: '[[Sanibel, Florida]]' - end: 1988 fn: 1 role: county commissioner, chairman 1985 to 1986 start: 1983 type: member_of with: '[[Lee County, Florida]]' - end: 2015-07-31 fn: 39 role: senior advisor; FARA short form for the Republic of Turkey (through the Gephardt Group) start: 2015-04-23 type: employed_by with: '[[Dickstein Shapiro LLP]]' - fn: 37 role: board co-chairman from 2008, chairman by 2013 start: 2008-07-24 type: head_of with: '[[Office of Congressional Ethics]]' summary: Former CIA clandestine services officer, Florida congressman, House intelligence chairman from 1997, co-chair of the 2000 National Reconnaissance Office commission, and CIA director from 2004 to 2006. tags: - Politician - Congressman - CIADirector - CIAOfficer - HPSCI - NROCommission - JointInquiry - NineElevenInquiry - Cunningham - KyleFoggo - InterrogationTapes - Sanibel - FARARegistrant updated: 2026-10-09 --- Porter Johnston Goss (born November 26, 1938, in Waterbury, Connecticut) is a former [Central Intelligence Agency](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) clandestine services officer who represented [Florida](/places/florida/) in the United States House of Representatives from January 1989 to September 2004.[^1][^2] He chaired the [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence](/organizations/house-permanent-select-committee-on-intelligence/) from 1997, led the 2002 joint inquiry into the attacks of September 11, 2001 with Bob Graham, co-chaired the National Commission for the Review of the National Reconnaissance Office in 2000, and served as Director of Central Intelligence and then Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from September 24, 2004 to May 2006.[^3][^4][^5][^6] ### Education, Army service and CIA entry Goss was born in Waterbury to Richard Goss, a manager at a manufacturing company, and Virginia (Johnson) Goss.[^2] He took a B.A. in classics and Greek from [Yale University](/organizations/yale-university/) in 1960.[^7] The Congressional Directory records service in the [United States Army](/organizations/us-army/) as a second lieutenant from 1960 to 1962.[^1] In 2004 he told the [Senate Select Committee on Intelligence](/organizations/senate-select-committee-on-intelligence/): "And while in the Army, I was trained and worked as a photo interpreter."[^8] ### Central Intelligence Agency, 1962 to 1972 The Congressional Directory lists Goss as a clandestine services officer of the CIA from 1962 to 1972.[^1] He told the Senate committee in 2004: "I worked in the Directorate of Operations at the CIA in the 1960s as a clandestine services officer."[^8] In the same statement he recalled that during the [Cold War](/concepts/cold-war/) "the mission of the intelligence community was very clear": to obtain the plans and intentions of adversaries before they could attack the United States.[^8] Because of his fluency in Spanish, his first posting was to Miami during the [Cuban Missile Crisis](/events/cuban-missile-crisis/). He then undertook clandestine assignments in [Haiti](/places/haiti/), the [Dominican Republic](/places/dominican-republic/), [Mexico](/places/mexico/) and Europe, until a bacteriological infection in 1970 ended his field career; he left the agency in 1972 after moving to Sanibel Island.[^7] A CNN chronology gives the postings as [Latin America](/places/latin-america/), the [Caribbean](/places/caribbean/) and Europe and states that he was forced to retire by a severe staph infection.[^2] Graham, introducing him to the Senate committee, said: "For a decade, early in his career, Congressman Goss served our Nation in both Army and the CIA. He knows firsthand the value and the risk of clandestine operations."[^8] ### Sanibel, the Island Reporter and local office Goss co-founded the Island Reporter, a weekly newspaper on Sanibel, in 1973.[^2] The Directory lists him as newspaper publisher and small business owner, councilman and mayor of Sanibel from 1974 to 1982, and a director of the National Audubon Society.[^1] On December 26, 1974 the Sanibel paper The Islander reported that Goss, who led the field in the city council election and was elected mayor unanimously by the council at its first meeting, had resigned temporarily from the Reporter during the campaign and was making the resignation permanent: he gave up his position as officer and director of Island Press and Publicity, which published the Reporter, and severed any connection with the paper for as long as he held public office. The board voted to install Mary R. Goss as a member of the board in his place.[^9] CNN dates his mayoralty to 1975 to 1977 and 1981 to 1982, with council seats from 1974 to 1980 and 1981 to 1982; Britannica gives 1974 as the year he became the city's first mayor.[^2][^7] Graham, as governor of Florida, appointed Goss to the Lee County commission in 1983. In his 2004 introduction Graham said that three of the five commissioners had been indicted for corruption during the building of a new county airport, that he suspended them and found three replacements, and that "Porter Goss was one of those three people." Graham added that Goss "soon rose to be the Chairman of the Lee County Commission" and completed the airport.[^8] The Directory gives his county service as commissioner, District 1, 1983 to 1988, and commission chairman 1985 to 1986, and lists him as chairman of the State Advisory Committee on Coastal Management, vice chairman of the West Coast Inland Navigational District and port commissioner of the Southwest Florida Regional Airport. It records that he is married to the former Mariel Robinson and has four children.[^1] ### Congress, 1989 to 2004 Goss was elected on November 8, 1988 to the 101st Congress and reelected to each succeeding Congress.[^1] The House member data in the congress-legislators dataset (Bioguide ID G000336) lists his first term as beginning January 3, 1989, in Florida's 13th district, the 14th district from January 1993, and his last term ending September 23, 2004.[^10] In the 102nd Congress the Speaker, after consultation with the Republican Leader, appointed Goss as one of five Republican members of the House Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980 (the [House October Surprise Task Force](/organizations/house-october-surprise-task-force/)), chaired by [Lee Hamilton](/people/lee-hamilton/) with [E. Lawrence Barcella](/people/e-lawrence-barcella-jr/) as chief counsel. The joint report is dated January 3, 1993, and carries his signature.[^11] The Congressional Directory for June 1997 lists him as chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and as a member of the Rules Committee; the June 1999 Directory lists him as chairman of the intelligence committee, with Jerry Lewis as vice chairman, and as vice chairman of Rules.[^3][^12] CNN dates his chairmanship from 1997 to August 10, 2004, after membership from 1995, and records that in 2003 Speaker Dennis Hastert arranged a waiver of House rules to let him keep both his seat on the committee beyond the usual term limit and the chairmanship.[^2] The National Commission biography of 2000 describes his legislative work as an effort to advance democracy in Haiti, [Nicaragua](/places/nicaragua/), [Panama](/places/panama/) and [El Salvador](/places/el-salvador/), states that he "has actively participated in strategic deliberations regarding U.S. foreign policy towards [Iraq](/places/iraq/), [North Korea](/places/north-korea/) and [Russia](/places/russia/)," and describes his chairmanship as "his second term as chairman of the Committee, on which he is now serving his third term as a member."[^13] On November 5, 1999, Goss filed the conference report on the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 for the House, which opens: "Mr. Goss, from the committee of conference, submitted the following conference report." The House conferees were Goss, Nancy Pelosi, Heather Wilson, Julian Dixon, Gary Condit and several other members.[^14] Among the committee's Republican members in the 107th Congress was Representative Randy Cunningham of California.[^15] Goss submitted the committee's report on the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 on June 21, 2004. It states that the Directorate of Operations "needs fixing" and that "For too long the CIA has been ignoring its core mission activities. There is a dysfunctional denial of any need for corrective action." The same report records that the committee majority rejected an amendment by Representative Anna Eshoo that would have withheld all funds of the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence until the committee received a full accounting of the Defense Department's relationship with Ahmed Chalabi from January 2001 through May 2004, and rejected Pelosi's amendment, as ranking minority member, to add her bill creating a Director of National Intelligence (H.R. 4104), which the majority described as an additional layer of bureaucracy.[^16] At his confirmation hearing Senator [Ron Wyden](/people/ron-wyden/) put to Goss that he had led a party-line vote to reject an inquiry into dealings with Chalabi; asked whether he still felt oversight had worked well on Chalabi, Goss answered: "Yes, sir, I do."[^8] Senator Jay Rockefeller, vice chairman of the Senate committee, said on the Senate floor on September 22, 2004 that when the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame was leaked and Goss was asked whether the disclosure warranted an investigation, Goss had said: "Someone sends me a blue dress and some DNA, I'll have an investigation." Rockefeller also stated that Goss and others had suggested that Richard Clarke may have lied to the joint inquiry in closed session and had vowed to declassify his testimony, and that after the [National Security Council](/organizations/national-security-council/) forwarded a declassified version to Goss on June 25, 2004 he took no action to release it. Rockefeller further stated that Goss, after the 1999 disclosures of Chinese espionage at the Department of Energy weapons laboratories, had laid the blame on the Clinton administration, saying on the House floor in the final days of the 2000 campaign: "We have in the Clinton-Gore administration seen a cultural disdain for security." Rockefeller noted that the Cox Commission, on which Goss served as vice chairman, had found that the laboratory security problems predated that administration.[^17] ### Nomination and confirmation as Director of Central Intelligence President [George W. Bush](/people/george-w-bush/) nominated Goss on August 10, 2004, to succeed George Tenet, who had resigned that summer.[^2][^6] [RFE/RL](/organizations/radio-free-europe/) reported that the nomination came as "In August 2004, the CIA was battered by criticism over intelligence failures related to the September 11, 2001, attacks and the Iraq war."[^18] The Senate intelligence committee held hearings on September 14 and 20, 2004 (Senate Hearing 108-777).[^8] Senator Chris Dodd stated on the floor that the committee had voted 12 to 4 on September 21 to send the nomination to the Senate.[^17] The Senate confirmed the nomination on September 22, 2004 by 77 to 17 (Roll Call Vote 187), with Rockefeller among the 17 voting no.[^17] Goss left the House on September 23, and on September 24 Andrew Card, the White House chief of staff, swore him in at an Oval Office ceremony with Bush standing by.[^10][^6] CNN dates his title "the first director of the CIA," under the new [Director of National Intelligence](/organizations/director-of-national-intelligence/) structure, to April 21, 2005.[^2] ### National Commission for the Review of the National Reconnaissance Office Title VII of the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000, approved December 3, 1999 as Public Law 106-120, created the commission. Section 702(d) required two co-chairs, one from each major party, "jointly agreed upon" by the President, the Senate majority and minority leaders, and the Speaker and House minority leader.[^19] The commission's report, dated November 1, 2000, carries Goss's biography on pages 135 to 136 under the heading "Congressman Porter J. Goss, Co-Chairman," with a parallel biography for [Bob Kerrey](/people/bob-kerrey/) as co-chairman.[^13] Kerrey's own account is a letter of August 11, 2003, to Peter B. Teets, director of the [National Reconnaissance Office](/organizations/national-reconnaissance-office/). It reads: "After President Clinton signed this into law, I asked Congressman Porter Goss to co-chair this effort with me. He agreed, and from the first meeting on February 1, 2000, until the release of its report on November 15, 2000, the Commission examined in detail the NRO's roles and missions." The letter gives November 15, 2000 as the release date, while the report itself is dated November 1, 2000.[^5] ### Joint inquiry, 2002 In 2002 Goss and Graham, then chairmen of the House and Senate intelligence committees, led the joint inquiry into the attacks. The inquiry's final report, dated December 2002, runs 858 pages and lists Goss as chairman of the House committee, Richard Shelby as vice chairman of the Senate committee and Pelosi as ranking Democrat of the House committee.[^15] On January 29, 2003, Graham, Goss, Shelby and Pelosi wrote to Tenet, then Director of Central Intelligence, that the final report had been submitted to the intelligence community for declassification review and that, having been "privileged to lead this bipartisan, bicameral investigation last year," they would work for its recommendations. The letter is signed by Graham as chairman of the Senate committee in the 107th Congress, by Goss as chairman of the House committee in the 107th and 108th Congresses, by Shelby as vice chairman of the Senate committee in the 107th Congress, and by Pelosi as ranking minority member of the House committee in the 107th Congress and ex officio member as Minority Leader in the 108th.[^4] On September 1, 2005, Goss and [Robert Mueller](/people/robert-mueller/) of the [Federal Bureau of Investigation](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/) signed a letter to Senator Pat Roberts enclosing a joint FBI-CIA assessment of the extent of [Saudi](/places/saudi-arabia/) government support for terrorism.[^20] ### September 11, 2001 breakfast and Mahmud Ahmed Salon reported on September 14, 2001 that on the morning of September 11, in a room on the House side of the Capitol, Graham and Goss "met for breakfast" with Senator Jon Kyl, some other members of the House intelligence committee, the Pakistani ambassador Maleeha Lodhi and "the director of Pakistani intelligence, Lt. Gen. Mahmud Ahmed." The writer, Jake Tapper, stated that the group was discussing the late-August trip that Goss, Graham and Kyl had made to [Pakistan](/places/pakistan/), where they had met President Pervez Musharraf and the Taliban's ambassador, Abdul Salam Zaeef, and that a Goss staffer entered and handed Goss a note that two planes had struck the World Trade Center.[^21] Ward Harkavy wrote in the Village Voice in August 2004 that Goss had been "having breakfast in D.C. on 9/11" with "Pakistan's security chief, Lieutenant General Mahmoud Ahmad," whom Harkavy described as "later revealed to be hijacker Mohammed Atta's bagman." Harkavy reported that [The Washington Post](/organizations/washington-post/) had mentioned the breakfast "as a cheery aside" in a May 18, 2002 profile of Goss by Rich Leiby, and added: "Florida senator Bob Graham was also munching with Mahmoud, as the Post and others, including the Asia Times have reported." He wrote: "Not a word of the breakfast appears in Goss-Graham 858-page report."[^22] The 9/11 Commission report records that on September 13, 2001 Deputy Secretary of State [Richard Armitage](/people/richard-armitage/) met the Pakistani ambassador and "the visiting head of Pakistan's military intelligence service, Mahmud Ahmed," and gave him seven demands, and that on September 18 Ahmed called Armitage about a two-day visit to [Afghanistan](/places/afghanistan/) during which he had met Mullah Omar and conveyed the American demands.[^23] ### Director of Central Intelligence, 2004 to 2006 A Talking Points Memo profile of the aides who followed Goss from the House committee to the agency reports that Patrick Murray "was the top lawyer on the intelligence committee under Goss, and became his chief of staff at CIA." It also reports that Michael Kostiw "was picked by Goss to be executive director," the number 3 post that later went to Kyle Foggo, and that, according to the Washington Post, Kostiw had been arrested two decades earlier for stealing a package of bacon, after which he became a senior adviser to Goss. The profile quotes Robert Dreyfuss, writing in The American Prospect in 2005, that Goss "was seen as a prisoner of his staff," above all of Murray. It also reports that in November 2004 "John McLaughlin, a CIA veteran who had served as acting director, resigned after warning Goss that Murray, 'was treating senior officials disrespectfully and risked widespread resignations.'" Deputy director for operations [Stephen Kappes](/people/stephen-kappes/) resigned soon after, following an order from Murray to fire a deputy.[^24] ### Kyle "Dusty" Foggo and the Cunningham case Kyle "Dusty" Foggo was executive director of the CIA, its No. 3 position, from 2004 to 2006.[^25] On November 28, 2005, Representative Randy Cunningham pleaded guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors and resigned his seat.[^26] Foggo pleaded guilty in 2008 to one count of defrauding the government by using his CIA positions to steer agency contracts and funds to his childhood friend, the defense contractor Brent Wilkes. Wilkes, prosecutors said, showered him with dinners and luxury vacations and promised him a job after he retired from the agency.[^27] Prosecutors dropped 27 other counts under the plea bargain.[^25] On February 26, 2009, U.S. District Judge James Cacheris sentenced Foggo to 37 months, the term prosecutors had requested.[^28] Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Forge told the court: "It's no coincidence that Mr. Foggo's fraud took place entirely in the aftermath of Sept. 11."[^25] Wilkes was sentenced to 12 years in prison.[^28] Foggo's resignation was reported on Monday, May 8, 2006, in an email the network did not provide that, according to the report, stated that Foggo was stepping down in light of Goss's departure.[^29] The FBI said the [Virginia](/places/virginia/) home and office of the former executive director had been searched, and that the inquiry included the CIA Office of Inspector General, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the [Internal Revenue Service](/organizations/internal-revenue-service/) and the United States Attorney's Office in San Diego.[^30] The FBI was reported to be examining whether Foggo had improperly helped Wilkes's company, ADCS, obtain large CIA contracts.[^31] Mark Mazzetti of The New York Times told NPR on May 13, 2006 that CIA officials said there was "absolutely no link whatsoever" between Foggo's departure and Goss's resignation, that Goss had asked Foggo to leave because he had become an embarrassment, and that "There certainly were enough other issues that White House officials had with Porter Goss in his tenure that pushed Mr. Goss out."[^32] ### Detention and interrogation program, 2004 to 2006 The Senate Intelligence Committee's 2014 study of the CIA program, published as Senate Report 113-288, states: "According to CIA records, no CIA officer, up to and including CIA Directors George Tenet and Porter Goss, briefed the president on the specific CIA enhanced interrogation techniques before April 2006."[^33] The study quotes John Helgerson, the agency's inspector general, who wrote that Tenet, before leaving office, and Goss, shortly after taking office, "both advised me that they had made requests to brief the President." A CIA question-and-answer sheet quoted in the study states that the president was not briefed on the specific techniques until April 2006, when Goss briefed him on the seven techniques then proposed for the post-Detainee Treatment Act program.[^33] The CIA's June 2013 response to the study, also quoted there, states: "[w]hile Agency records on the subject are admittedly incomplete, former President Bush has stated in his autobiography that he discussed the program, including the use of enhanced techniques, with then-DCIA Tenet in 2002, prior to application of the techniques on Abu Zubaydah, and personally approved the techniques." The study notes that a memoir by the acting CIA general counsel John Rizzo disputes that account.[^33] In July 2005 Goss sent the inspector general a memorandum to "express several concerns" about a review of the agency's Counterterrorist Center and asked that new reviews wait until existing ones were complete. He wrote: "[t]o my knowledge, Congress is satisfied that you are meeting its requirements."[^33] On December 1, 2005, Goss notified the national security advisor that he had authorized enhanced interrogation techniques on Abu Ja'far al-Iraqi, because "CIA believes that Abu Ja'far possesses considerable operational information about Abu Mu'sab al-Zarqawi."[^33] On March 15, 2006, Goss briefed the full committee on detention matters but did not provide the locations of CIA detention facilities.[^33] ### The 2005 videotapes According to the study, a proposal in late 2005 for an independent commission on detainee abuse caused concern at the CIA "that such a commission would lead to the discovery of videotapes documenting CIA interrogations," and "prompted renewed interest at the CIA to destroy the videotapes." In an email of October 31, 2005, Rizzo wrote that he needed "to be the skunk at the party again." The Senate amendment to create the commission failed on November 8, 2005, and "The CIA destroyed the CIA interrogation videotapes the following day."[^33] Emails released on April 15, 2010 by the [Justice Department](/organizations/department-of-justice/) under a Freedom of Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union give a different account of Goss's role. According to a November 2005 email, Jose Rodriguez, head of the clandestine service, told Goss and others that he "felt it was extremely important to destroy the tapes and that if there was any heat, he would take it." Goss "laughed and said he'd be the one to take the heat." The email then states: "PG, however, agreed with the decision." NBC News reported that the email is an after-the-fact summary and does not prove that Goss approved the destruction, that current and former intelligence officials had said he did not and was angry to find out about it, that Rodriguez's lawyer disputed that account, and that Goss had not discussed the matter publicly. Another November 2005 email in the release, from an unidentified CIA officer to Foggo, said that Rizzo had called White House counsel Harriet Miers, who "was livid" (the email's words: "she was livid").[^34] Documents obtained by the ACLU indicate that Rodriguez ordered the tapes destroyed on November 9, 2005. On November 9, 2010, a Justice Department spokesman said special prosecutor John Durham, appointed in 2008 by Attorney General Michael Mukasey, "has concluded that he will not pursue criminal charges for the destruction of the interrogation videotapes."[^35] ### Resignation On May 5, 2006, Bush announced at the White House that Goss had resigned, and said he accepted the resignation "with regret."[^36] Goss offered no explanation. Standing beside the president, he said he was leaving the agency "on a very even keel, it's sailing well." RFE/RL reported that Goss was "apparently disliked by some clandestine officers," that many senior staff had resigned, and that he had reportedly had differences with John Negroponte, the director of national intelligence, after Negroponte moved many CIA analysts to another intelligence body.[^18] ### Office of Congressional Ethics, Turkey registration and later life On July 24, 2008, Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader John Boehner announced the first board of the Office of Congressional Ethics, naming former Representative David Skaggs chairman and Goss, described as "Former CIA Director and former Congressman," co-chairman.[^37] Their releases of January 16, 2013 and January 8, 2014 list Goss as chairman and Skaggs as co-chairman.[^38] CNN dates his chairmanship of the board to 2008 to 2015.[^2] On April 23, 2015, Goss filed a short form registration statement under the Foreign Agents Registration Act as a senior advisor to Dickstein Shapiro LLP, listing his Sanibel residence, a business address at the firm's offices at 1825 Eye Street NW in Washington, and one foreign principal, the "Republic of Turkey (through the Gephardt Group)." The form describes his services as counsel on strengthening the Turkish-American relationship in areas under debate in Congress, "including trade, energy security, counter-terrorism efforts, and efforts to build regional stability in the broader Middle East and Europe"; educating Members of Congress and the Administration on issues of importance to Turkey; notifying Turkey of actions on those issues; and preparing analyses of developments in Congress and the executive branch, on a part-time basis, to "continue indefinitely."[^39] The registration data list the short form as terminated on July 31, 2015, the date on which the firm's registration for the Republic of Turkey through the Gephardt Group, begun April 1, 2009, also ended.[^40] The firm's supplemental statement for the six months ending June 30, 2015 reports that Goss made no contributions during the period, that the Republic of Turkey paid the firm $96,000 on March 24, 2015 for consulting services, and that Hastert, a senior advisor to the Republic of Turkey whose short form dated from April 1, 2009, terminated his connection on May 28, 2015.[^41] In October 2022, according to CNN, Goss joined the Council for Responsible Social Media.[^2] [^1]: Congressional Directory for the 108th Congress (2003 to 2004), August 2004, Florida delegation, Representative Porter J. Goss, Biography, p. 62: "born in Waterbury, CT, November 26, 1938; B.A., Yale University, New Haven, CT, 1960; served, U.S. Army, second lieutenant, 1960-62; clandestine services officer, CIA, 1962-72; newspaper publisher, small business owner; councilman/ mayor, city of Sanibel, 1974-82; chairman, Lee County Commission, 1985-86; commissioner, Lee County, District 1, 1983-88; director, National Audubon Society; ... married to the former Mariel Robinson; four children; elected November 8, 1988, to the 101st Congress." https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CDIR-2004-08-01/html/CDIR-2004-08-01-FL-H-14.htm [^2]: CNN, "Porter Goss fast facts," December 21, 2023 (as syndicated by KEYT): personal data (birth name Porter Johnston Goss; parents; children); timeline entries for the CIA (1962 to 1972, staph infection), the Island Reporter (1973), Sanibel offices, Lee County, House service, HPSCI chairmanship (1997 to August 10, 2004, member since 1995), the 2003 Hastert waiver, nomination August 10, 2004, confirmation by 77 to 17 on September 22, swearing-in September 24, first director of the CIA April 21, 2005, resignation May 5, 2006, Office of Congressional Ethics 2008 to 2015, April 2015 Turkey entry, and the Council for Responsible Social Media on October 12, 2022. https://keyt.com/news/national-world/cnn-national/2023/12/21/porter-goss-fast-facts-2/ [^3]: Congressional Directory for the 105th Congress (1997 to 1998), June 1997, Select and Special Committees of the House, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence ("Porter J. Goss, of Florida, Chairman") and Committee on Rules (Goss listed). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CDIR-1997-06-04/html/CDIR-1997-06-04-HOUSECOMMITTEES-2.htm [^4]: Bob Graham, Porter Goss, Richard Shelby and Nancy Pelosi, letter to George J. Tenet, Director of Central Intelligence, January 29, 2003, signature block (Graham "Chairman, Senate Intelligence Committee, 107th Congress"; Goss "Chairman, House Intelligence Committee, 107th and 108th Congresses"; Shelby "Vice Chairman, Senate Intelligence Committee, 107th Congress"; Pelosi "Ranking Minority Member, House Intelligence Committee, 107th Congress and Member ex officio (as Minority Leader), 108th Congress"). Copy on archive.org, item declasspart4. https://archive.org/download/declasspart4/declasspart4_djvu.txt [^5]: Bob Kerrey, letter to Peter B. Teets, Director, National Reconnaissance Office, August 11, 2003, posted as NRO press release 2003-03, "Former Senator and Co-Chair of SSCI Bob Kerrey Expresses His Support of the NRO." https://web.archive.org/web/2id_/https://www.nro.gov/Portals/135/documents/news/press/2003/2003-03.pdf [^6]: "Porter Goss Sworn in As New CIA Director," PBS NewsHour, September 24, 2004 (Oval Office ceremony Friday; sworn in by White House chief of staff Andy Card with President Bush standing nearby; Senate vote of 77 to 17 on Wednesday; Rockefeller voted against). https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/government_programs-july-dec04-cia_09-24 [^7]: Britannica, "Porter Goss," biography (Wayback Machine capture of October 30, 2020): B.A. in classics and Greek, 1960; "trained as a military intelligence officer before joining the CIA in 1962"; fluency in Spanish and first posting to Miami during the Cuban missile crisis; assignments in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Europe; infection in 1970; left the CIA in 1972; cofounded a local newspaper and became Sanibel's first mayor in 1974; appointed by Governor Graham to the Lee County commission in 1983. https://web.archive.org/web/20201030123647/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Porter-Goss [^8]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee on Intelligence, Nomination of the Honorable Porter J. Goss to be Director of Central Intelligence, hearings of September 14 and 20, 2004, S. Hrg. 108-777: statement of Senator Bob Graham (Lee County airport, 1980s; "For a decade, early in his career"); statement of Goss ("I worked in the Directorate of Operations at the CIA in the 1960s as a clandestine services officer. And while in the Army, I was trained and worked as a photo interpreter"; the Cold War case officer passage); questions by Senator Ron Wyden on Ahmed Chalabi. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-108shrg96698/html/CHRG-108shrg96698.htm [^9]: "Mayor Goss Resigns From Reporter," The Islander (Sanibel, Florida), December 26, 1974, page 1. https://www.digifind-it.com/sanibel/DATA/newspapers/islander/1974/1974-12-26.pdf [^10]: U.S. House of Representatives member data, congress-legislators dataset (unitedstates.github.io), historical YAML, entry for Porter J. Goss, Bioguide ID G000336, born 1938-11-26, House terms 1989-01-03 to 2004-09-23 (Florida 13th district, then 14th). https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/legislators-historical.yaml [^11]: U.S. House of Representatives, Task Force to Investigate Certain Allegations Concerning the Holding of American Hostages by Iran in 1980, Joint Report, H. Rept. 102-1102, 102nd Congress, 2nd Session, January 3, 1993 (Task Force Members; Goss signature page; staff: E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr., Chief Counsel; the Speaker's appointment of Hyde, Leach, Snowe, Bereuter and Goss after consultation with the Republican Leader). Archive.org item 6199732-Joint-Report-of-the-October-Surprise-Task-Force. [^12]: Congressional Directory for the 106th Congress (1999 to 2000), June 1999, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence ("Porter J. Goss, of Florida, Chairman. Jerry Lewis, of California, Vice Chairman") and Committee on Rules ("Porter Goss, of Florida, Vice Chairman"). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CDIR-1999-06-15/html/CDIR-1999-06-15-HOUSECOMMITTEES-2.htm [^13]: National Commission for the Review of the National Reconnaissance Office, "The NRO at the Crossroads," November 1, 2000, Appendix G, "Commission Member Biographies," pp. 135 to 136. Archived copy: https://web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://irp.fas.org/nro/commission/nro.pdf [^14]: U.S. House of Representatives, Conference Report 106-457 on H.R. 1555, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000, November 5, 1999. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-106hrpt457/html/CRPT-106hrpt457.htm [^15]: Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, H. Rept. 107-792 (December 2002), front matter: membership of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (Graham, Chairman; Shelby, Vice Chairman) and of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 107th Congress (Goss, Chairman; Pelosi, Ranking Democrat; Republicans including Randy "Duke" Cunningham). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-107hrpt792/pdf/GPO-CRPT-107hrpt792.pdf [^16]: U.S. House of Representatives, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005, H. Rept. 108-558, June 21, 2004 ("Mr. Goss, from the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, submitted the following report"; "Global Human Intelligence Collection"; "Document Request" under the heading for Ahmed Chalabi; "Intelligence Community Restructuring"). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-108hrpt558/html/CRPT-108hrpt558.htm [^17]: Congressional Record, Senate, September 22, 2004, pp. S9487 to S9518, "Senate Confirms Porter J. Goss to Be Director of Central Intelligence": remarks of Senator Jay Rockefeller (Plame remark; Clarke testimony; Wen Ho Lee and the Cox Commission); remarks of Senator Chris Dodd (committee vote of 12 to 4 "yesterday"); Rollcall Vote No. 187, yeas 77, nays 17, "The nomination was confirmed." Statements about Goss's record in the Rockefeller remarks are Rockefeller's. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2004/9/22/senate-section/article/S9487-1 ; text copy: https://irp.fas.org/congress/2004_cr/goss092204.html [^18]: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, "U.S.: CIA Head Resigns After Less Than Two Years On The Job," Prague, May 6, 2006. https://www.rferl.org/amp/1068216.html [^19]: Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000, Public Law 106-120, Title VII, section 702 ("National Commission for the Review of the National Reconnaissance Office"), subsection (d) (co-chairs), as reprinted in the commission report, "Legislation Authorizing the Commission," pp. 145 to 146. https://web.archive.org/web/2020id_/https://irp.fas.org/nro/commission/nro.pdf [^20]: Robert S. Mueller III and Porter J. Goss to Senator Pat Roberts, letter of September 1, 2005, with the Executive Summary of the joint FBI-CIA report on the extent of Saudi government support for terrorism, Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/static/02ca03957729ccbd47d46405577cf604/Executive-Summary-of-Joint-FBI-CIA-Report-on-Extent-of_Saudi-Government-Support-for-Terrorism.pdf [^21]: Jake Tapper, "Spying eyes and ears," Salon, September 14, 2001. https://www.salon.com/2001/09/14/human_spies/ [^22]: Ward Harkavy, "Food for Thought," Village Voice, August 10, 2004. https://www.villagevoice.com/2004/08/10/food-for-thought/ [^23]: The 9/11 Commission Report (2004), pp. 331 (September 13, 2001 meeting; Armitage's seven demands) and 333 (September 18 call from Ahmed to Armitage). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-911REPORT/pdf/GPO-911REPORT.pdf [^24]: Talking Points Memo, "Who Are the Gosslings?" (profile of Patrick Murray, Michael Kostiw, Jay Jakub and other Goss aides; quotes Robert Dreyfuss in The American Prospect, 2005, and reports the Washington Post account of Kostiw's arrest and of McLaughlin's November 2004 resignation). Reporting in this profile on the Post and on Dreyfuss is attributed to the profile. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=143189 [^25]: NBC News, "Ex-CIA executive gets 37 months in prison," February 26, 2009: Foggo as No. 3 official from 2004 to 2006, one count of fraud, 27 counts dropped, prosecutor Jason Forge's "aftermath of Sept. 11" remark, and the sentence of 37 months as requested. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna29413971 [^26]: NPR, "California Congressman Pleads Guilty to Bribery," November 28, 2005. https://www.npr.org/2005/11/28/5029908/california-congressman-pleads-guilty-to-bribery [^27]: ProPublica, "Disgraced Senior CIA Official Heads to Prison Still Claiming He's a Patriot," February 2009. https://www.propublica.org/article/disgraced-senior-cia-official-heads-to-prison-still-claiming-hes-a-patriot [^28]: "CIA officer gets jail time for fraud," Philadelphia Inquirer (Associated Press), February 27, 2009. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/nation_world/20090227_CIA_officer_gets_jail_time_for_fraud.html [^29]: Paul Blumenthal, "MSNBC: Foggo Gone," Sunlight Foundation, May 8, 2006. https://sunlightfoundation.com/2006/05/08/msnbc-foggo-gone/ [^30]: JURIST, FBI says former CIA executive director's home and office searched, May 2006. https://www.jurist.org/news/2006/05/fbi-says-former-cia-executive/ [^31]: JURIST, FBI probes CIA defense contracts after top official resigns, May 2006. https://www.jurist.org/news/2006/05/fbi-probes-cia-defense-contracts-after [^32]: NPR, Weekend Edition Saturday, "Foggo Leaving CIA Amid Investigation," May 13, 2006, Scott Simon interview of Mark Mazzetti (New York Times). https://www.npr.org/transcripts/5402875 [^33]: Select Committee on Intelligence, United States Senate, Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program, S. Rept. 113-288 (December 2014): Findings and Conclusions, and Executive Summary sections on briefing the president (including footnote 17 and the CIA Q&A on waterboarding), the 2005 to 2006 Goss passages, and the 2005 videotapes (p. 443). The CIA's June 2013 response is quoted in footnote 17. https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/CRPT-113srpt288.pdf [^34]: NBC News, "Ex-CIA chief agreed with tape destruction," April 2010 (emails released by the Justice Department under an ACLU FOIA request). https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna36589750 [^35]: JURIST, "No charges to be filed in CIA videotape destruction case: DOJ," November 10, 2010. https://www.jurist.org/news/2010/11/no-charges-to-be-filed-in-cia-videotape-destruction-case/ [^36]: Michele Norris, "Goss Is Latest to Leave Bush Administration," NPR, All Things Considered transcript, May 5, 2006. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/5387220 [^37]: Pelosi and Boehner, "Pelosi, Boehner Announce Appointments to New Office of Congressional Ethics," July 24, 2008. https://speakeremeritapelosi.house.gov/newsroom/pelosi-boehner-announce-appointments-new-office-congressional-ethics [^38]: Boehner and Pelosi, "Boehner, Pelosi Announce Appointments to Office of Congressional Ethics," January 16, 2013 (https://pelosi.house.gov/news/press-releases/boehner-pelosi-announce-appointments-to-office-of-congressional-ethics) and "Boehner, Pelosi Announce New Appointments to Office of Congressional Ethics," January 8, 2014 (https://speakeremeritapelosi.house.gov/newsroom/boehner-pelosi-announce-new-appointments-office-congressional-ethics). [^39]: Porter Goss, Short Form Registration Statement under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, primary registrant Dickstein Shapiro LLP (registration no. 3028), received by the NSD/FARA Registration Unit April 23, 2015, items 1 to 14 and attachment. https://efile.fara.gov/docs/3028-Short-Form-20150423-30.pdf [^40]: U.S. Department of Justice, FARA bulk data (efile.fara.gov/bulk/zip): short forms (Goss, Porter, registration 3028, short form date 04/23/2015, terminated 07/31/2015) and foreign principals ("Republic of Turkey (through the Gephardt Group)," registered 04/01/2009, terminated 07/31/2015). [^41]: Dickstein Shapiro LLP, Supplemental Statement under FARA for the six months ending June 30, 2015, received August 6, 2015 (items on terminated short forms; money received from the Republic of Turkey; contributions by Goss). https://efile.fara.gov/docs/3028-Supplemental-Statement-20150806-22.pdf --- *The Info Web has an MCP server for agents at https://theinfoweb.org/mcp (streamable HTTP, no auth): search by meaning, exact text, source or date, and follow typed, footnoted connections. Setup and the same tools over GET: https://theinfoweb.org/llms.txt*