As you can see from this article, Porter Goss himself says he would not be fit for the job.
"I couldn’t get a job with CIA today. I am not qualified," the Florida Republican told the production company of the filmmaker Michael Moore during the filming of the documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.
Yesterday, the day after Mr Bush picked Mr Goss for the top US spy job, Moore released an excerpt from a 3 March interview in which the former House of Representatives intelligence chief, 65, recounts his lack of qualifications for employment as a modern CIA agent.
"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," he is quoted as saying in an interview transcript.
"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."
A CIA agent is not the same job as the head of the CIA.
Commander in Chief is not the same job as a swift boat captain.
Commander in Chief is not the same job as a national guard officer.
Look at it another way. I have probably one of the more technical jobs imaginable. I am close to the top of my field, having spent 9 years studying and acquiring 3 degrees in my area of specialty, followed by another 6 years of industrial experience. The CEO of the company I work for is only a few levels above me in my reporting structure, yet has almost no concept of the details of the job that I do. Yet I believe he does a competent and good job, operating in areas of management that I have nothing more than superficial understanding of.
An architect doesn't need to be the world's best brick layer. It helps to have some understanding though. In this case, Porter Goss was a CIA agent for 11 years.
I gotta agree. The CEO of my company is several steps above me, and would have absolutely no clue how to do my job at all, and all of my responsibilities would crumble if left up to him. Yet, he has been the best CEO our company has ever had, turning around a near-bankrupt situation in just a couple of years.
