Porter Goss
Porter J. Goss, the former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and a former U.S. Representative from Florida, is a member of Dickstein Shapiro’s Public Policy & Political Law Practice. Goss served as the 19th and last Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from September 24, 2004 until April 21, 2005. At that time, he became the first Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA) under the newly signed Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act. He continued as D/CIA until May 26, 2006.
Goss represented Southwest Florida for 16 years as a U.S. Congressman. He was Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from 1997 until his nomination as DCI in August 2004. He served for almost a decade as a member of the committee, which oversees the intelligence community and authorizes its annual budget. During the 107th Congress, Porter co-chaired the Joint Congressional Inquiry into the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
In addition to Intelligence, Goss’s Congressional career focused on the environment, House ethics, senior issues, health care reform, and the Rules Committee. He was a leader on Everglades legislation and takes great pride in the passage of the Ricky Ray Bill, which offered relief to victims who contracted HIV through a contaminated blood supply. Porter was awarded the Congressional Distinguished Service Award in 2006.
Prior to his work in Washington, DC, Porter and his family settled in Sanibel, Florida, where he was a small business owner and co-founder of a local newspaper. He was an active leader in the incorporation of the City of Sanibel in 1974 and was elected its first mayor. From 1983 until 1988, Porter was a member of the Lee County (Florida) Commission, serving as its chairman in 1985 and 1986.
