"Clinton claims “the CIA and the FBI refused to certify that bin Laden was responsible [for the Cole bombing] while I was there.” But he could replace or direct his employees as he felt. His helplessness was, as usual, self-imposed."
This is, in essence, no different in principle than the defense used by children who, having murdered their parents, then plead to be forgiven because, after all, they're "orphans."
The defect was, as Morris notes, self-inflicted. If the CIA and FBI weren't doing a satisfactory job, why didn't Clinton fire the heads of the respective organizations? That he didn't implies that Clinton WAS satisfied with the job they were doing; thus, his complaint that HIS failure was their responsibility is illegitimate, the bastard child of a failed Presidency that was more interested in getting blown by an intern than in blowing up bin Laden.
True. But there are limits to what any American President can do in the modern era or any era. Could President GHW Bush or President Dole, even with their much superior strengths of character, have turned those Titanics of policy from their icebergs of changing threats? Maybe not, but I don't think Clinton even saw the need.