Tenet in Slap at Clinton CIA Cutbacks

NewsMax.com ^ | 2/05/04 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

CIA Director George Tenet delivered an unexpected slap to ex-president Clinton on Thursday, suggesting during a speech defending his agency that CIA cutbacks during Clinton's tenure were responsible for the agency's failures in the war on terror.

"When I came to the CIA in the mid-1990s, our graduating class of case officers was unbelievably low," Tenet told an audience at Georgetown University.

He said it had taken "years of rebuilding" for the agency to recover from the Clinton-era cutbacks, contending that the agency was now moving in the right direction.

"Our training programs are putting our best efforts into recruiting the most talented men and women," he explained, saying that now "we are graduating more clandestine officers than at any time in the history of the Central intelligence Agency."

Tenet said it would take "an additional five years of rebuilding our clandestine service" before the U.S. has the kind of on-the-ground human intelligence necessary to effectively fight the war on terrorism.

In the early 1990s, the Clinton administration drastically cut back "Humint" – efforts by the CIA to recruit indigenous on-the-ground assets regardless of their backgrounds – after Democrats like then-Sen. Robert Torricelli complained that the agency was relying on too many people involved in criminal activity and human rights abuses.

[kitkat]

BUMP

[smith288]

Ouch.

[Sunshine Sister]

We have known this all along. Why hasn't Washington?

[katana]

Sen. Robert Torricelli complained that the agency was relying on too many people involved in criminal activity

Maybe he was afraid of competition for the available manpower to staff his office and run his campaigns. I mean, there are only so many criminals to spread around.

[nutmeg]

bttt

[FlipWilson]

The Dems are riding high now on this WMD issue, but it will come back to slap them in the face down the road. I think they are being set up a bit. Our intelligence got it wrong. . . our intelligence got it wrong because it did not have the proper resources to do its job. . .those resources were cut by the Democrats, the very people complaining now. Door meet face.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Washington knows this. The press doesn't want to tell you that it is known.

[KantianBurke]

"The only use I had for the CIA is helping me score with foreign chicks. National security? What a drag!"

[el_texicano]

"Ouch" is right..."Better put some ice on that" you x42id rapist. (said with no small amount of disdain)

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.


'Remember the Lost and Suffering on September 11, 2001'


http://www.TheAlamoFILM.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33

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[trebb]

The Dems are riding high now on this WMD issue, but it will come back to slap them in the face down the road. I think they are being set up a bit. Our intelligence got it wrong. . . our intelligence got it wrong because it did not have the proper resources to do its job. . .those resources were cut by the Democrats, the very people complaining now. Door meet face.

Exactly - I saw an interview on FOX the other day where some Dim-supporter airhead was complaining that we didn''t use HUMINT effectively or we would have known a lot more. The twit didn't seem to realize that it was the Dims that castrated our on-site effectiveness.

[expatpat]

.......then-Sen. Robert Torricelli complained that the agency was relying on too many people involved in criminal activity

The pot calling the kettle black......

[Joy Angela]

We have known this all along. Why hasn't Washington?

The AP wires are ignorant of these realities too.

Who owns the Associated Press anyway?

It can't be good, when all news is under one umbrella.

[Mo1]

IMO .. he should have mentioned the gutting the Church Committee did too