On
August 10th, 2004, president
George W. Bush named
Rep. Porter Goss, a
Republican from
Florida as the new director of the
Central Intelligence Agency. The position had been
vacant since
George Tenet resigned as
CIA chief on
July 11, 2004.
On March 4th, 2004 Mr. Goss was interviewed for Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 and is featured in the film defending the US Patriot Act by urging viewers to call his hot line which in reality does not exist, thus prompting Moore to place his office line phone number on the screen during the film. When he was interviewed, he was still just a representative from Florida. Yet now, after being named CIA director, Michael Moore must be kicking himself for cutting a scene from the same exact interview which has Goss says the following:
"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."
The Washington Post asked Goss's spokeswoman Julie Almacy for an honest answer on this. She said that when he was a case officer for the CIA (as he was through most of the 50s, all of the 60s and the early 70s) the language and technical requirements were different. "The statement is correct in the context of the guidelines for a new hire of a case officer."
Only problem is that Mr. Goss isn't back with the CIA as a case officer, but as the director.
The clip can be found at www.michaelmoore.com