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CIA director overwhelmed and confused Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050303/D88J5B280.htmlhttp://apnews.myway.com/article/20050303/D88J5B280.html
CIA Director Goss Amazed at His Workload
Mar 2, 7:08 PM (ET)
By RYAN PEARSON
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) - In a rare public appearance Wednesday, CIA Director Porter Goss said he is overwhelmed by the many duties of his job, including devoting five hours out of every day to prepare for and deliver intelligence briefings to President Bush.
"The jobs I'm being asked to do, the five hats that I wear, are too much for this mortal," Goss said. "I'm a little amazed at the workload."
Goss praised Bush's choice for the new job of national intelligence director, John Negroponte. The career diplomat, who is expected to be confirmed by the Senate, will take over several of the duties currently assigned to Goss, including the presidential briefing.
Goss, who has made few public comments beyond congressional testimony, also said the legislation creating the position of director of national intelligence left him unclear on his future role.
"It's got a huge amount of ambiguity in it," he said. "I don't know by law what my direct relationship is with John Negroponte," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld or other top officials involved with intelligence.
Despite the confusion, Goss praised Negroponte's selection.
"I hold him in the very highest regard," he said, noting that the two attended Yale at the same time. "The intelligence community is going to be strengthened and unified and more effective than it has ever been."
Goss' remarks came during an hourlong address at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, before an audience of more than 200 that included former first lady Nancy Reagan. Tickets to the event were sold to the public for $45.
Goss, a CIA clandestine officer for 10 years who retired in 1972, said it takes him five hours every day to prepare and deliver the president's daily briefing, calling Bush "a voracious consumer of intelligence."
Legislation signed by Bush in December creates a national intelligence center and the powerful new position Negroponte is nominated for. He will oversee the nation's 15 separate intelligence agencies.
Goss will remain head of the CIA but under the legislation loses his title as director of central intelligence. He said his role under the overhauled system will likely depend on Bush.
"Any president ... is going to pick the way he or she wants the intelligence community to serve him or her," he said.
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