Herb Kohl: “I intend to vote today to confirm the nomination of Representative Porter Goss to be the Director of Central…”

“I intend to vote today to confirm the nomination of Representative Porter Goss to be the Director of Central Intelligence. I recognize the deep experience that Representative Goss brings to this position as the recent Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and as a former CIA officer and Army intelligence officer. I also understand the unique role the DCI plays in providing the President with intelligence and advising him on intelligence matters. Thus, I believe that on balance Mr. Goss's qualifications are sufficient to confirm the President's choice for this position. However, I want to express concerns about Porter Goss and the very partisan way in which he has conducted himself. His statements mischaracterizing Democratic presidential nominee Senator John Kerry's positions on intelligence and accusing Congressional Democrats of being weak on intelligence are not the sort of rhetoric we want associated with the leader of our intelligence community. As former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger testified in the Appropriations Committee yesterday, the ideal leader for our Nation's intelligence community should be as non-partisan as possible. Mr. Goss has acknowledged that as DCI he will need to be non-partisan and objective if he is to provide the President with independent judgments about the intelligence he provides, and during his nomination hearings, he made a commitment to do just that. We must hold him to his commitment.”