Porter Goss

Porter Goss
Born	November 26, 1938 Waterbury, CT
Member of	9-11/Joint Congressional Inquiry, Association of Former Intelligence Officers, Book and Snake, Operation 40, Psi Upsilon
Perpetrator of	"Iran-Contra"
Director of the CIA In office April 21, 2005 - May 26, 2006 Deputy Albert Calland Preceded by Porter Goss Left in acrimonious circumstances.  Director of Central Intelligence In office September 24, 2004 - April 21, 2005 Preceded by George TenetJohn E. McLaughlin Succeeded by Porter Goss The last DCI. After this the job was split into "Director of National Intelligence" (DNI) and the "Director of the Central Intelligence Agency" (D/CIA).  Chariman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence In office 1997 - 2004

Background

Goss graduated from Yale University with a degree in Greek classics in 1960, where he joined Book and Snake and Psi Upsilon. He then joined the Army Reserve Officers Training (ROTC) program. From there, to use his own words, he "gravitated to the CIA" in 1961.

CIA

Goss worked in the JM/WAVE station in Miami. Asked about his connections, Goss once stated "I knew [station chief] Shackley but I was so junior compared to those people... a basic Boy Scout at that point." Goss has claimed that he worked primarily as a photo-interpreter, and that he never went to Cuba himself. Recently colleague Vince Cannistraro claimed that he was involved in paramilitary activity against the Cubans: "I know he was involved in the Bay of Pigs operation, he worked out of Miami with Cuban exiles... and took part in... attempts to overthrow Castro". Goss worked for the CIA’s Directorate of Operations as a covert operative in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Western Europe.

Operation 40 Membership

Full article: Operation 40

John Simkin reports that Porter J. Goss was a member of CIA Assassination squad, Operation 40, and indeed a January 1963 photo shows someone generally agreed to be Goss with his arm around David Sanchez Moralez at a table with Barry Seal and many other members of Operation 40. Goss however claims that the photo is not him, and rather improbably for someone with his connections, that he had "never heard of Operation 40".

9-11 Joint Congressional Inquiry

Full article: 9-11/Joint Congressional Inquiry

On the morning of 9/11, Porter Goss (chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence) was with Bob Graham (chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence) were meeting with Pakistani ISI General Mahmud Ahmed.

After initially opposing calls for an inquiry into the events of 9/11, Porter Goss later agreed to lead (with Bob Graham) the first inquiry into 9/11. He clarified his determination not to find wrongdoing within the US Government, stating "This is not a who-shall-we-hang type of investigation. It is about where are the gaps in America's defense and what do we do about it type of investigation."

CIA directorship

George W Bush said about Goss: "He knows his CIA inside and out. He's the right man to lead this important agency at this critical moment in our nation's history" in a video clip run by CNN, August 10, 2004. On April 21, 2005, Bush made him Director of Central Intelligence. He became DCI on September 24, 2004, and announced to the CIA staff later that year their job was “to support the Bush administration and its policies in our work”. Some senior CIA figures who opposed the Iraq War resigned, included Michael Scheuer, former head of Bin Laden Station. Vince Cannistraro, a former head of the CIA’s counter-terrorist centre, commented: “It can only be interpreted one way – there will be no more dissenting opinions.”

Goss resigned in May 5, 2006, under pressure for reasons still uncertain. The Los Angeles Times claimed that "Goss was pushed out by Negroponte after clashes between them over Goss' management style, as well as his reluctance to surrender CIA personnel and resources to new organizations set up to combat terrorism and weapons proliferation." Other theories link his resignation to the investigation of Kyle Foggo, a top CIA official who had been accused improperly steered a $2.4 million contract to his close college friend Brent Wilkes, a defense contractor implicated in the Randy Cunningham case.

Obstruction of justice

Under Goss' directorship, 92 tapes of torture carried out by the CIA on Abu Zubaydah and others were destroyed. A FOIA request by the ACLU turned up a number of "E-mails show CIA chief [Porter Goss] 'agreed to destroying' of torture". The emails themselves do not appear to have been published on the WWW.

 

An event carried out

Event	Description
"Iran-Contra"	A drug trafficking/weapons smuggling operation carried out in the 1980s with the approval of the top of the US government.

 

An appointment by Porter Goss

Appointee	Job	Appointed	End	Description
Kyle Foggo	CIA/Executive Director	October 2004	8 May 2006	Resigned amid a multimillion dollar corruption probe.

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