George Tenet’s resignation brings condemnation down on the Bush Administration. Some want to say Tenet was fired, and it was about time. Others claim he resigned in anticipation of the release of a Senate Intelligence Committee (oxymoron?) report. It really matters little.
When George Bush was inaugurated, Tenet had been the DCI for not quite six years. Prior to his appointment by Bill Clinton, no DCI had served for more than two years in quite some time. The bureaucracy ran things as it wished in the CIA. Why change when there would soon be a new boss? Bush came to Washington to unite people, and took a lot of unacknowleged steps attempting to do so. One thing he did was keep Tenet in his position. Bush considered continuity in some areas to be essential. I believe he was correct in keeping Tenet.
We have to remember that the CIA had been gutted in its ability to use unsavory characters as agents. Despite what people want to believe about 007, he was a thug in a tuxedo. Other agents may not dress as well, but they are thugs none the less. Like the military, the CIA was viewed with suspicion by the previous administration. Tenet knew the ins and outs, and was a man Bush felt could fix things. He didn’t have time. Within six months, we were attacked.
Much of the blame for intelligence failures regarding Iraq has been laid at his feet. The blame really belongs on the heads of those in the previous administration who ignored the CIA, and on those in Congress who wanted nice spies.
I know little about George Tenet, but get the impression he worked within the existing systems to try and do things well. Changing DCIs won’t solve the structural problems within the CIA, nor will it remove obstacles. I’m a bit disappointed to see him go.
