New chief for an embattled CIA

He's a former CIA covert operator who also founded a newspaper.

An avid boater, he's long favored no-boating zones to protect manatees in Florida Gulf waters.

In Congress he's strongly backed the work of US spy agencies, yet recently he's become an outspoken proponent of intelligence reform.

Rep. Porter Goss (R) of Florida is nothing if not a balancer. And that's a skill he'll need in spades if he's confirmed as the new CIA director, following President Bush's nomination Tuesday.

The next CIA chief will have to try to reconcile all manner of competing imperatives, analysts note. He will need to both protect Langley and renovate it - all while dealing with the political pressures unleashed by the presidential election and the criticisms of the 9/11 commission.

"He's going to have the problem of keeping politics out of it, and doing what he knows best, which is how to run the natin's intelligence mechanisms at this time of extraordinary challenge," says former CIA official John MacGaffin.

President Bush's announcement that he has decided to nominate Mr. Goss to run the CIA comes at a time of uncertainty throughout the US intelligence community.

"He is well prepared for this mission," the president said of Goss during the outdoor appearance Tuesday morning.

A Yale graduate like Bush, Goss worked for both Army intelligence and the CIA's Directorate of Operations before illness cut short his clandestine career.

Though he has publicly said little about what he did for agency, Goss has admitted that as a young operative he was positioned in the Florida Straits during the Cuban missile crisis.

He retired at a young age to Sanibel Island, near Fort Myers on Florida's Gulf coast. He eventually entered local politics, positioning himself as an environmentally conscious Republican who favored limits to sprawl and development. He as elected to Congress in 1988, and has served there ever since, although he eschewed retirement for reelection in 2002 only at the behest of Vice President Dick Cheney.

"I think every American knows the importance of getting the best possible intelligence we can get to our decision-makers," Goss said Tuesday, standing next to the president.

As chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Goss has gained generally high marks from colleagues over the years.

Similarly, intelligence analysts have been generally impressed with the low-key manner in which he has handled potentially incendiary issues.

Yet Goss is in the uncomfortable position of auditioning for a job that is no longer clearly defined. President Bush has embraced one of the central recommendations of the 9/11 commission, the establishment of a new intelligence director that will oversee the CIA and other intelligence agencies and activities. In the past, the CIA chief has also held a broader title: director of central intelligence. That function will now be moved out of Langley, but the political process has not yet determined how the new chain of command will be structured.

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