Porter J. Goss (born November 26, 1938) is an American politician and a former Director of Central Intelligence and a former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. A CIA operative in Latin America during the Cold War, he served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1989 until he took up his post at the agency. Goss represented the 14th congressional district of Florida, which includes Lee County, Fort Myers, Naples, and part of Port Charlotte. He served for a time as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Goss was a co-sponsor of the USA PATRIOT Act and was a co-chair of the Joint 9/11 Intelligence Inquiry.
Goss abruptly resigned as Director of the CIA on May 5, 2006 in a sit-down press conference with President George W. Bush from the Oval Office On May 8, 2006, Bush nominated USAF Gen. Michael Hayden to be Goss's successor.
