Swamp Gas
Joined: 06 Jun 2001
Posts: 4254
Location: On a Hill in the Lowlands |
George Tenet Head of CIA 'resigns'
 Thu Jun 03, 2004 3:30 pm
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Lots of rats swimming near this sinking ship
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5129314/
George Tenet resigns as CIA director
Bush says intelligence chief was ‘strong and able leader’
June 3: President Bush announces the resignation of CIA Director George Tenet on Thursday.
BREAKING NEWS
MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 11:56 a.m. ET June 03, 2004WASHINGTON
- In a surprise announcement as he left the White House for a trip to Europe, President Bush announced Thursday that CIA Director George Tenet had resigned, adding that it was for "personal reasons."
Tenet went to the White House to inform Bush about his decision Wednesday night. “He told me he was resigning for personal reasons,” Bush told reporters. “I told him I’m sorry he’s leaving. He’s done a superb job on behalf of the American people.”
“George Tenet is the kind of public servant you like to work with," Bush added, without taking questions afterwards. "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 and I will miss him.”
Last day is July 11
The CIA said Tenet's last day would be July 11 and that Tenet had said he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Bush said Tenet's deputy, John McLaughlin, will temporarily lead America’s premier spy agency until a successor is found. Among possible successors is House Intelligence Committee Chairman Porter Goss, R-Fla., a former CIA agent and McLaughlin.
Tenet had been under fire for the way the CIA monitored possible terrorist activity before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as well as intelligence failures related to the U.S.-led war against Iraq.
In May, the 9/11 Commission investigating the attacks released statements harshly criticizing the CIA for failing to fully appreciate the threat posed by al-Qaida before the terrorist hijackings. Tenet had told the panel the intelligence-gathering flaws exposed by the attacks will take five years to correct.
Seven years as CIA chief
During his seven years at the CIA, speculation at times has swirled around whether Tenet, 51, would retire or be forced out, peaking after the Sept. 11 attacks and surging again after the flawed intelligence estimates about Iraq’s fighting capability.
Even when his political capital appeared to be tanking, Tenet managed to hang on with what some say was a fierce loyalty to Bush and the CIA personnel. A likable, chummy personality, also helped keep him above water.
Conventional wisdom had been that Tenet, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, did not plan to stay on next year, no matter who won the White House. Tenet has been on the job since July 1997, an unusually lengthy tenure in a particularly taxing era for the intelligence community that he heads.
On Capitol Hill, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., called Tenet “an honorable and decent man who has served his country well in difficult times, and no one should make him a fall guy for anything.”
House Speaker Dennis Hastert said, “He served his country a long time. History will tell what the implications of his tenure were.”
“I think history will tell,” the Illinois Republican said when asked how Tenet’s performance would be judged. “It’s too early to make that snap judgment.”
The Asssociated Press contributed to this report.
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