I always liked Tenet too, despite the beatings he has taken on FR by those who dislike him.
VP for John F'n Kerry...?
Tenet was acceptable.
I, too, don't see bashing him was very productive, but the president can now choose someone completely to his own liking, rather than a 'Toon holdover. He knows much more now than in 2000 the most important qualifications important now for this postion.
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well, I gotta tell ya, I don't envy anyone who takes that job. Being director of intelligence is like being an old testament prophet, you're hated for crying "wolf!" all the time, dismissed if the warned about disasters don't happen, and tarred'n'feathered when the bad guys get through the defenses.
That being said, I offer my thanks to Mr. Tenet for staying at the helm during what must have been one of the darkest periods in our intel agency's history. In a recent speech at Georgetown U., Tenet made clear and direct reference to the fact that rebuilding the Agency assets from the gutting they took ten years ago would last at least another five years. He was there when our Congress under Clinton started cutting back on intel, when the "gorelick wall of shame" was put up, and I believe he stood in the fire to continue guiding the resurgence of the agency despite the near-certainty that he would take the most heat. He didn't didibop like Woolsley did, and though Woolsley had some incisive remarks about the previous administration intel failures, those remarks were made from the outside where they made little effect. Tenet hung in there - perhaps like a sailor manning the flooding pumps on a ship listing seriously to port, but he didn't abandon ship, even if the then-captain (clinton) was mad as a cockeyed goose.
There's a saying that some are men of destiny, and some are defined by destiny. Though we may not ever know it, I think that a CIA afflicted with a string of short-term directors-leaving because of conflicts with the administration would ultimately have been destroyed - just what the left and the likes of Kerry (who has said as much with his voting record) would have wanted. Well, it's easy to do your duty when you are flushed with success, good fortune and a smiling star; but standing in the den of wolves that seek to dismantle the national intelligence apparatus for which you are responsible??? - that certainly is one definition of doing one's duty.
Tenet stands in the latter category, but Stand He Did.
CGVet58
I have no strong reservations about Tenet. He was a Clinto appointee, true, but from all I've read about the guy he turned out not to be a Clinton player, and there was talk about him getting dumped if AlGore had won the presidency. Seven years as CIA Director is a lifetime, especially so in these times. I believe he served faithfully, although not brilliantly.
Tenet is a good guy; he's been a trooper.