Michael Moore has posted at his site footage of CIA Chief nominee Porter Goos describing his own unsuitability for a role with the CIA. The interview is less than 6 months old and was done in preparation for Moore’s film, Farenheit 911, but did not make it into the final cut.

To be fair, this clip is taken very much out of context. Goss was not asked if he would consider the role of the CIA’s chief exectutive, he was asked about his experience as a CIA case officer in the 60’s. Goss was stating that the skills needed to be a case officer have changed; that Arabic and computer skills are at the forefront of what is needed to work on the ground in the CIA. He was being both modest and praising when he spoke of the skills that our current case workers have that he does not. They are not necesarily skills that one would need to sit in the top office. There are, I would imagine, an entirely separate cast of skills that would be helpful in that role.

This whole thing has me very conflicted. I adore Michael Moore. His biased portrayals and skewed rhetoric has always been so inline with my own views and still fairly mild in comparison to the GOP spin machine, that it’s never really bothered me. For some reason, this one did.

On the other hand, I’m not excited at the possible appointment of a partisan politician to head our national intelligence agency. It seems inappropriate in a very basic and obvious way. This is not an office often held by a politician. It’s not an office that should be held by a politician. Goss left intelligence work behind him in the 70’s.

Either way, here’s the transcript:

INTERVIEWER: [Y]ou come from intelligence. This is what you did, this is what you know.

REP. GOSS: Uh, that was, uh, 35 years ago.

INTERVIEWER: Okay.

REP. GOSS: It is true I was in CIA from approximately the late 50’s to approximately the early 70’s. And it’s true I was a case officer, clandestine services office and yes I do understand the core mission of the business. 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.
— Rep. Porter Goss, March 3, 2004, Washington, DC

“Pointing to his CIA experience, Bush said, ‘He knows the CIA inside and out’ and ‘He’s the right man to lead this important agency at this critical moment in our nation’s history.’”