June 03, 2004

Bush: CIA director George Tenet resigns

CIA Director George Tenet, buffeted by controversies over intelligence lapses about suspected weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,
[This is just plain AP B.S.! Tenets intell about Saddam's WMDs was as reliable and accurate as everyone else's and they said Saddam had those weapons, also, even France and Germany.
As for the 9/11 attacks, the CIA was unable to work with the FBI until the Homeland Security Department was created to coordinate both and the Gorelick "wall" had been removed!--Jen]
has resigned. President Bush said today that Tenet was leaving for personal reasons and "I will miss him."
[...]
"He told me he was resigning for personal reasons. I told him I'm sorry he's leaving. He's done a superb job on behalf of the American people," the president said at a hurriedly arranged announcement before boarding a helicopter to begin a trip to Europe. Cheney stood outside the Oval Office to watch Bush's announcement.
[...]
Tenet had given some consideration to leaving last summer, but decided to stay on. Some close to him believe he wanted to catch al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who remains at large and is believed to be on the Afghan-Pakistani border.
[If he's still alive...--J.T.]
[...]
"He's been a strong and able leader at the agency. and I will miss him," Bush said of Tenet as he got ready to board Marine One for a trip to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., and on to Europe.
   
 "George Tenet is the kind of public servant you like to work with," the president added. "He's strong, he's resolute. He's served his nation as the director for seven years. He has been a strong and able leader at the agency. He's been a strong leader in the war on terror."

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III praised Tenet. "George has sought at every turn to bridge the gap between the CIA and FBI with one goal in mind - the security of the American public," Mueller said. "Due to his constant efforts to bring the intelligence agencies closer together, we are better able to predict the actions of our adversaries and to protect Americans from evolving transnational threats."
[...]
Said [Porter] Goss: "Just boat loads of stuff have been dumped on him by all kinds of people. He was given the job of rebuildingan agency that had been depleted."
[Porter Goss, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is a former CIA agent and is being discussed as Tenet's potential successor.--Jen]
    House Speaker Dennis Hastert said: "He served his country a long time. History will tell what the implications of his tenure were."
[...]
Some close to Tenet have said the job of overseeing more than a dozen agencies that make up the intelligence community has been taxing for him. He suffered heart problems while at the National Security Council during the Clinton administration, although a CIA official said his resignation was not health related.

I'm not going to speculate about why Mr. Tenet is leaving.
Maybe he really does want to spend some time with his family.
I'll bet he hasn't been home much in the last 3 years.
This is a tough war on a lot of us (Some of us--ahem!--have a lot more gray hair than we did on 9/11) and it's clear that Tenet has been busy and that his agents have found out alot and stopped many terror attacks all over the world.
Not being privy to the mysterious and secret workings of the CIA, it's hard to truly criticize Tenet's job performance. but he seems to have done a fine job to me and President Bush was pleased by his service to our country at this critical time in our history.
I wish Mr. Tenet well and would like to thank him for 7 years of service to we, the people.
And I'm just delighted that my President avails himself of the CIA's resources and expertise rather than shunning the CIA Director as Prezodent Clinton did with James Woolsey and Tenet himself.
When President Bush says he'll miss Tenet, you know that he will.
I think I'll miss Mr. Tenet also, now that I think about it.