WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (AFP) - A former Fortune 500 business executive has been tapped to become the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, replacing outgoing chairman Porter Goss, House Republicans announced Wednesday.
Speaker Dennis Hastert's announcement that Peter Hoekstra, 50, has been selected to become the committee's new chairman touted what he said was the Michigan lawmaker's wide-ranging experience in matters of international affairs and intelligence.
"Pete has led several oversight missions for the Congress in the last couple of years to trouble spots around the world, including leading several trips to Iraq, Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf in the past year," Hastert said.
Goss was chosen last month by US President George W. Bush to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.
Hastert noted that Hoekstra takes over the post at a critical time, as lawmakers contemplate ways to reform the US intelligence system, after the major failures of the September 11 attacks and in assessing Iraq's pre-war weapons capability.
"Pete ... has a big mission to fulfill this year. Reforming our intelligence agencies is critical to our nation's security," Hastert said.
Hoekstra was first elected to Congress in 1992. He was named to the intelligence committee in 2001.
Hoekstra was an executive at Herman Miller, Inc., an office furniture manufacturer, before being elected to Congress.
He was born in Groningen, the Netherlands, and immigrated to Michigan with his family at the age of three, making him one of the few Congress members not born in the United States.