Republicans vie for House Intelligence chair

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Successors to head the House Intelligence Committee began to vie Wednesday after Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., stepped down to run the CIA.

Goss made the move after being nominated by President Bush to replace George Tenet as the Director of Central Intelligence, but he remains a member of the committee.

Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., presided over the committee's hearing on the Sept. 11 Commission's recommendations Wednesday, but Reps. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and the third highest ranking Republican, and Ray LaHood, R-Ill., have both expressed interest in taking over the chairmanship of the committee.

Boehlert, who chairs the House Science Committee, is reportedly not interested in the position.

Whomever gets the post, a decision left to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., would oversee the nation's intelligence community at a particularly difficult time as Congress heads into consideration of the massive reforms proposed by the Sept. 11 Commission.