 |
Porter J. Goss
|
 |
|
Porter J. Goss
|
|
Porter J. Goss became the 19th Director of Central Intelligence on 24 September 2004, after being confirmed by the Senate. As the President's principal intelligence advisor, he heads the Intelligence Community (all foreign intelligence agencies of the United States) and directs the Central Intelligence Agency.
Prior to becoming Director of Central Intelligence, Mr. Goss represented the 14th Congressional District of Florida for almost 16 years. He was chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from 1997 until his nomination as DCI in August 2004. He served for almost a decade as a member of the committee, which oversees the intelligence community and authorizes its annual budget. During the 107th Congress, Mr. Goss co-chaired the joint congressional inquiry into the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He is the second Director of Central Intelligence to have served in Congress.
Mr. Goss was a U.S. Army Intelligence officer from 1960 to 1962. He served as a clandestine service officer with the Central Intelligence Agency from 1962 until 1972, when an illness contracted on duty forced him to retire. While in the CIA's Directorate of Operations, he completed assignments in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe.
After leaving the CIA, Mr. Goss and his family settled in Sanibel, Florida, where he was a small business owner and founded a newspaper. He was elected to the Sanibel City Council in 1974 and served there until 1983, including three years as mayor. From 1983 until 1988, Mr. Goss was a member of the Lee County (Florida) Commission, where he served as its chairman from 1985 to 1986.
Mr. Goss holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in classics and Greek from Yale University. He was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, on 26 November 1938. He and his wife, Mariel, have four children and 11 grandchildren.