George Tenet: At The Center Of The Storm

(CBS)  (Editor's Note: In his book, "At the Center of the Storm," and on Sunday's broadcast of 60 Minutes, George Tenet said he encountered Pentagon advisor Richard Perle outside the White House on Sept. 12, 2001, the day after the 9/11 attacks. Perle disputes Tenet's account, saying the encounter never happened because he was stranded in France that day, and was not able to return to the country until September 15. George Tenet told Tom Brokaw Monday, April 30, 2007, "I may have been off by a couple of days," but says the conversation did happen.)

As director of the CIA, George Tenet has kept America's most important secrets. And until now, his lips were sealed.

Tenet's CIA has been blamed for failing to stop 9/11, praised for the fall of the Taliban, and vilified for predicting that Iraq held chemical and biological weapons.

Now, three years after leaving the CIA, Tenet has written a book, aptly named, "At the Center of the Storm." This month, correspondent Scott Pelley sat down with Tenet. 60 Minutes wanted to know how he got "weapons of mass destruction" wrong. Are we using torture in the war on terror? And who was it at the White House who finally put the knife in his back?

60 Minutes found him passionate, combative, apologetic, defiant, and fiercely loyal to the people of the CIA and their fight against terrorism.

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"People don't understand us, you know, they think we're a bunch of faceless bureaucrats with no feelings, no families, no sense of what it's like to be passionate about running these bastards down. There was nobody else in this government that felt what we felt before or after 9/11. Of course, after 9/11, everybody had that feeling. Nobody felt like we felt on that day. This was personal," Tenet tells Pelley.

His story erupts after a silence of three years. 60 Minutes spoke with Tenet at Georgetown University.

In a sense, his career began and ended there. He's a professor now, but he first came as a student from Queens, New York. After college, he worked on Capitol Hill and in the Clinton White House, rising to lead the CIA at the age of 44. Tenet served seven years, all that time hunting Osama bin Laden.

"I still lie awake at night thinking about everything that could have been, that wasn't done to stop 9/11. To the 9/11 families, I said, you deserve better from your entire government. All of us," Tenet says.

If he lies awake, men like Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Midhar, two of the 9/11 hijackers, are among the reasons. Before 9/11, Tenet's CIA headquarters knew that they were al Qaeda and in America. But the information was filed, not passed to the FBI.

"Two of the 19 hijackers, in your files, in Langley, Virginia, a year and a half before 9/11 … they don't get on a watch list. They don't get on a no-fly list. You know these are bad guys," Pelley remarks.

"Scott, they don't. And honest people doing honest work, for whatever you know, all of these people who are doing the best that they can, and understand this in great granularity, understand all of this and feel this pain, we all know this. I can't dress this up for you," Tenet replies.

What happened?

"People were inundated with data and operations. And they missed it," Tenet acknowledges. "We're not trying to intentionally withhold—human beings made mistakes."

But the 9/11 Commission accused Tenet's CIA of being bureaucratic and failing to recognize al Qaeda for the threat that it was.

"All these commissions, and all these reports never got underneath the feeling of my people. You know, to see us written about as if we're idiots. Or if we didn't understand this threat. As if we didn't understand what happened on that day. To impugn our integrity, our operational savvy. You know, the American people need to know that's just not so," Tenet says. "We're the ones that stand up and tell you the truth about when we're wrong. It's a great thing about this government. The only people that ever stand up and tell the truth are who? Intelligence officers. Because our culture is, never break faith with the truth. We'll tell you, you don't have to drag it out of us. You didn't have to serve me a subpoena to tell me I didn't watch list Hazmi and Midhar. We knew right away; and we told everybody. Truth matters to us."

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[bapriddy]

Let's find someone else to blame. How about Saddam? Anyone remember March 16, 1988. This was the day Iraq used chemical weapons against Iranian forces and Kurdish separatists. On March 16, 1988 Iraqi troops, on orders from Saddam to stop a Kurdish uprising, attacked the Kurdish town of Halabjah with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents killing 5,000 people, mostly women and children.

Do you think that between August 1990 and March 2003 Sadaam might have disposed of these weapons? Maybe "our" problem is that "we" don't think at all. Of course the CIA thought he had WMD because he did have them and used them.

[bapriddy]

Lets find someone else to blame. How about Saddam? Anyone remember March 16, 1988. This was the day Iraq used chemical weapons against Iranian forces and Kurdish separatists. On March 16, 1988 Iraqi troops, on orders from Saddam to stop a Kurdish uprising, attacked the Kurdish town of Halabjah with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents killing 5,000 people, mostly women and children.

Do you think that between September 1990 and March 2001 Sadaam might have disposed of these weapons? Maybe "our" problem is that "we" don't think at all. Of course the CIA thought he had WMD because he did have them and used them.

[glxyent]

Truth is an entity that defies permanent suppression no matter the guile of the perpetrator. Bit by bit, the truth shall be told about the sinister tale that is the Iraq war.

George Tenet is not the first nor will he be the last to unscroll the mighty plot to invade, occupy and control the political and economic landscape of the Middle East. Never mind the rhetoric about the spread of democracy among the region's unwilling converts.

When all the pieces come together, America will realize that while asleep with apathy, the country has been high jacked and is being held hostage by neo-cons who are slowly bleeding the country to death.

Don't intimidate nor silent the man, George Tenet that is. Please, let him speak because the nation is yearning for the truth. Next, enter Colin Powel and so on and so forth till lastly, Mr. President. Did I hear impeachment?

Wordtodawise

[mosoj-2009]

As the wheels of the war lies are falling off Mr. Tenet seeks to distance himself from this tragic page of world history; it is just another sample of his self serving attitude that he chooses to speak now, an hour late and a penny short. One can't help it but think that if the course of events would not not have ended unmasking the real murky background of the US plunge into a senseless war, Mr. Tenet would have elected to remain mum. Where was his demouncing spirit at the time when it would have really counted....at the moment when an effort was needed to avert this catastrophic mistake....at the time when his duty was to stand for reason and not calculation...? And, where does this sudden desire to level with history come from...? Where was it when he accepted the prize for his sheepishness as Bush hang a medal around his neck...? When real men make mistakes they live with them and save whatever dignity they have left and remain silent; loosers try to justify themselves and, if possible, to make a profit in the process. Shame on you, George Tenet...!!!

[leon0001-2009]

I think this story was great at least one person is being honest and is taking blame for his part thats more than I see the others doing mobody wants to admits they are wrong or they make mistakes I did not like the way the guy did the interview he was not very professional

[zosorubberso]

i,ve seen the interveiw and george tenet just seems to get arrogant every time he speaks.

[soldierdeath]

An editor may be skilled in his/her ability to dissect writings of an author in an effort to capture audiences that are abstract in its thinking on certain issues; however, any publisher will be hard pressed in finding one (editor) skilled enough to exploit the fact that Mr. Tenet should be jailed along side that of Mr. Bush, Chaney, and the late Sec. Def. for the thoughtless and careless perpetrators of loss of the lives of loyal patrons unto the American way of life and its people (Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, and Sailors).

OEF/OIF Veteran %u2013 Proudly Serving Our America!!!

[cyesq]

George Tenent should have been fired on September 12, 2001. Leaving him as the head of the CIA was a slap in the face of all Americans. He failed at his job. His agency failed to protect America. It was a public embarrassment to allow him to keep his job as the Twin Towers burned. Now he takes the high road in an effort to clear his name and make us believe that he was not responsible for what happened on his watch. At this point, he sounds very much like Bart Simpson, "Ieeee didn't do it."

[t30231]

Then another interesting observation is this. I know Bush Jr is suppose to be educated, but he does not act as if he is. First of all when you compare his ability to speak like most Presidents we have had in the past, he appears unable to do so. He stutters around, repeats things over and over as if he can't think for himself. He also has this bully attitude with the nations and other countries and their leaders, unwilling to talk and he was not selected by popular people paper vote. He was selected in by machine manipulated votes. Like as if he was placed in that position because he lacks to some degree any appearace of education. It's as if he was a puppet whom would be the perfect fit to get a lot over on without him being intellegent enough to see through it. He just followed orders coming from another voice or voices.

it's just odd to me.

[t30231]

The only thing I get out of this guy is that he doesn't want to be held responsible for a failed Iraq policy. Well what the heck is worried about that for?! It isn't his job to declare war! Its the President's!

I think they knew exactly what would happen in Iraq. All the carnage? All the instability with Saddam Hussein gone? THEY KNEW IT! And they did it anyway. Because the wanted the war on terror off american soil.
Posted by booyaw_77 at 01:10 AM : May 01, 2007
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They did it anyway because the longer we are at war in a different country and they have financial ties, the money will continue to roll in. Plus you have to look at it this way too. In order to get PNAC and Agenda 21 to work you will need to bleed the Nation of it's funding. That fits the remark that Bin Laden made about attacking us through our infastructures. If we blled out all out money, destroy the middle class and infiltrate it with forgeiners, causing problems with immagration issues, you have a thrid world country. There will be rich/poor and our society will be dumbed down by this no child left behind law; where they teach classes such as math over their head, rush them through and then make the Taks tests so easy they pass. Moving an uneducated student to a higher grade.