Gibbons seeks top spot on Intelligence Committee

Suzanne Struglinski

Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2003 | 9:20 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., will seek the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee since some members with more seniority will not be in the House after the 2004 election.

The committee's current vice chairman, Rep. Doug Bereuter, R-Neb., announced Tuesday that will he not seek re-election. Bereuter served on the committee from 1989 through 1994 and then returned to the committee in 2001, an aide said.

The committee chairman, Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., announced his plans to retire earlier this year, leaving just Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., with more seniority than Gibbons. Boehlert already chairs the House Science Committee.

Gibbons' spokeswoman Amy Spanbauer said being Intelligence Committee chairman "is always something he has wanted."

Gibbons now serves as chairman of the subcommittee on human intelligence and counterintelligence.

The committee handles the budget for the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence activities. The information he views while doing committee work is mainly classified and documents cannot leave the committee room, Spanbauer said.

Members have an eight-year limit on the committee. Gibbons was first appointed in January 1997 after being elected to Congress in 1996 and will serve until January 2005. He will try to get a waiver in 2004 to be reappointed to the committee regardless of whether he is selected to be chairman, Spanbauer said.

Gibbons also serves on the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, as vice chairman of the House Resources Committee and as a member of the Armed Service Commmittee.

Meanwhile, Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., has been discussed for a possible seat on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees federal tax law and revenue rules.

Porter has said it is an honor to even be considered but there is still a long process ahead before any decisions on that would be made.