Marketplace (6:30 PM ET) June 03, 2004
George Tenet quits as CIA director
CHERYL GLASER, anchor: After seven years of heading up the Central Intelligence Agency, Director George Tenet called it quits on this Thursday, June 3. I'm Cheryl Glaser, sitting in for David Brown.
George Tenet is the second longest serving director in the CIA's history. In his speech to staff and colleagues today, Tenet said the decision to resign was a personal one based on a wish to spend more time with his family. But his departure comes as the CIA's facing mounting criticism for perceived intelligence failures both in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks and in connection with the war in Iraq. MARKETPLACE's John Dimsdale looks at the legacy of the man who oversaw a dramatic expansion of the CIA. He came just as the Cold War was ending, a time when many thought that the agency's headed for the mothballs.
JOHN DIMSDALE reporting: Details of the CIA's budget are classified, but it's generally considered to be north of $5 billion a year, a 60 or 70 percent increase during the Bush administration. In a departure speech to CIA employees this morning, Tenet said he's seen a massive transformation in his seven years as director.
Mr. GEORGE TENET: American intelligence has, after the drought of the post-Cold War years, begun to receive the investments and people and dollars and attention that we need to meet the security challenges of a new century in a new world.
DIMSDALE: Tenet survived as a hold-over from the Clinton administration despite some spectacular intelligence failures. From allowing President Bush to mistakenly say Iraq was buying uranium in Africa to the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade during the war in the Balkans, to missing India's development of a nuclear bomb.
Mr. TED GUP: I know of no director of Central Intelligence who left behind a more controversial or more checkered record than George Tenet, and I say that with pain because I don't know of anyone who did not like him personally.
DIMSDALE: That's journalism professor Ted Gup, who's working on his second book about intelligence gathering. He says Tenet's experience as a staffer of the Senate Intelligence Committee in the 1980s helped nurture good relations with Congress. Tenet cited personal reasons for his resignation. John Pike, the director of globalsecurity.org, thinks he knows one of those reasons.
Mr. JOHN PIKE (Director, Globalsecurity.org): Tenet has been in public service for a very long time, first as a Senate aide and then as director of Central Intelligence. As far as going to the private sector, he can go to just sit on corporate boards of directions, he's going to be making millions of dollars a year rather than $150,000.
DIMSDALE: And with a son who's going to be a high school senior this fall, Tenet will be looking at some college tuition bills next year. In Washington, I'm John Dimsdale, for MARKETPLACE.
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