Right man for the job

Baltimore Sun ^ | September 8, 2004 | James Jay Carafano

[Former Military Chick]

AN IVY LEAGUE degree and years of service as a trained and experienced field operative make for a firm foundation as a CIA chief, particularly when you need someone to shake things up and build the solid organization that is right for the times.

** Mr. Dulles turned the CIA into the Cold War's premier intelligence agency, giving equal weight to collection, analysis and covert operations. He held the job until 1961, when President John F. Kennedy fired him after a CIA-backed coup against Cuba's Fidel Castro collapsed at the Bay of Pigs (though the failure had less to do with CIA intelligence than with Mr. Kennedy's refusal to approve military support for the operation). Still, there was no question that Mr. Dulles accomplished great things in his decade at the helm.

***

President Bush nominated the former Yale alum, CIA spy, eight-term congressman and chair of the House Select Intelligence Committee last month to replace the departed George J. Tenet as CIA director. It's the right choice. Mr. Goss will be another Allen Dulles. He'll build the right organization for our troubled times. Mr. Goss faces his first Senate hearing today.

*** Nominating Mr. Goss, and nominating him now, is the right thing to do. We know that there are serious threats out there that need to be addressed. Long-term reforms, such as those proposed by the commission, are important, but it will take months to put them in place and months and years to gain the benefits. Getting a director on hand right now is vital. Leaving the nation without a CIA director is like sending a ship into a storm without a captain.

[Former Military Chick]

It is rare that I agree with anything in the Sun, this is one of those times.