CIA vs. WHITEHOUSE: Text of CIA Direcor George Tenet
RESEARCHER
CIA vs. WHITEHOUSE: Text of CIA Director George Tenet
Thu Feb 5 16:12:40 2004
64.140.158.147


Posted 2/5/2004 1:34 PM
Speech of CIA Director George Tenet
A text of CIA Director George Tenet, speaking on Thursday at Georgetown University in Washington, as transcribed by eMediaMillWorks Inc.

 http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-02-05-tenet-transcript_x.htm

[snip]
I have argued for patience as we continue to learn the truth. We are nowhere near the end of our work. We need more time. I have told you where we are and where our performance can be improved.

Our analysts, at the end of the day, have a duty to inform and warn. They did so honestly and with integrity when making judgments about the dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.

Simply assessing stacks of reports does not speak to the wisdom experienced analysts brought to bear on a difficult and deceptive subject.

But as all these reviews are under way we must take some care. We cannot afford an environment to develop where analysts are afraid to make a call, where judgments are held back because analysts fear they will be wrong. Their work and these judgments make vital contributions to the country's security.

I came here today to also tell the American people that they must know that they are served by dedicated, courageous professionals. It is evident on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq. It is evident by their work against proliferators. It is evident by the fact that well over two-thirds of Al Qaida's leaders can no longer hurt the American people.

We are a community that some thought would not be needed at the end of the Cold War. We have systematically been rebuilding all of our disciplines with a focused strategy and care.

Our strategy for the future is based on achieving capabilities that will provide the kind of intelligence that the country deserves. The president has ensured that this will be the case.

We constantly learn and improve, and at no time will we allow our integrity or our willingness to make tough calls ever be compromised.

I want to thank you for your patience. I want to thank you for listening through a lot of details. It's always great to be back at a place I love, the greatest university in America. Let's beat Villanova tonight. God bless you.

MODERATOR: Dr. Tenet has agreed to stand for some questions.

QUESTION: Under both Presidents Clinton and Bush you played an unusually strong role in U.S. mediation efforts to bring a final resolution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Is it your best judgment that U.S. national security interests were best achieved by the Clinton administration's decision to levy blame against one man, Yasser Arafat, following the collapse of Camp David in July 2000?

Has the Bush administration really made the U.S. safer, in terms of removing the major friction point between the U.S. and the Arab and Muslim world, by pinning the legitimate aspirations for Palestine freedom on the isolation of one individual?

TENET: Well, I think that — first, I'm glad I'm no longer involved in this issue and I'm never really excited to speak about policy, but I'll say this.

We have, over two administrations, made a concerted effort to bring people together. Unfortunately, you have to bring people together with common, like-minded objectives that they do want to live side by side, that they do want to have two states live in peace.

And I would say that, if I went to my principal foreign partners — and not just the British; Middle Eastern services, other European services — none of us called us any differently.

I would also say the front part is, what I was trying to do today is defend our community to the American people, but be absolutely honest in telling you what we said and didn't say in this estimate.

QUESTION: You've presented a very sobering view of the intelligence community today. My question involves elements that are technically outside of the intelligence community.

Recent investigative reports, including a long piece in the journal Mother Jones, which came out this past January, detailed the creation of a Pentagon group a few weeks after September 11th which, as of January of 2002, became known as the Office of Special Programs. And it contained prominent neoconservatives with direct ties to Dick Cheney and members of the administration.

This group was shown to have a clear political agenda, to have influenced people in the intelligence community, and definitely used gross intelligence to promote their case.

So my question is, can you confirm or deny the existence of such a Pentagon group? And if so, how can we prevent small ideological groups from influencing intelligence estimates?

TENET: Well, I haven't read Mother Jones in a while, but let me say this.

Let me say this. I'm the director of central intelligence. The president of the United States sees me six days a week, every day. I tell him what the American intelligence community believes.

There are always people all around town — you know, "There's gambling in this casino." Everybody has different views of what the intelligence means or doesn't mean.

I can tell you with certainty that the president of the United States gets his intelligence from one person and one community: me. And he has told me firmly and directly that he's wanted it straight and he's wanted it honest and he's never wanted the facts shaded. And that's what we do every day.

The rest of it, I don't know.

QUESTION: Good morning, Director Tenet. Let me first say thank you for your last seven years of service.

Nowadays the knee-jerk reaction is to say, "We need more human intelligence," as you referred to. What that reaction seems to overlook is that regimes like Iraq are designed specifically not only to deceive external — us, our allies — but internally as well — the Kurds, the Shiites, whatnot.

So how do you solve that problem? How do you figure out exactly what the regime is trying to do, when they're, in fact, deceiving themselves?

TENET: Well, you settled on one of the greatest problems that we face as intelligence professionals working against a problem of deception and denial, while you're working against a target, whether it's Iraq or any other country.

I can only tell you there's no perfection in this business that we engage in. I can only tell you that our eyes are wide open when we deal with these kinds of regimes, and we recognize that the data that comes to us has to be viewed through a different prism.

Now let me say something about the theory that somehow people were deceiving each other in the regime and lying to each other. I don't know whether it's true or not. And the only way we're going to be able to figure that out is through debriefing of individuals, data that we collect, documents that we believe in and evidence.

QUESTION: To the best of the agency's knowledge, to what extent is the Malaysian government, the SCONI group and Gulf Technical Industries implicated in the nuclear trade network connected to Dr. Khan?

TENET: Well, I believe I said in my statement that the Malaysian government has closed the facility. That's as far as I can go here today in open.

QUESTION: Thank you.

TENET: You want to take another question? You might get a better answer? Go ahead.

I don't want you to go away disappointed, son.

QUESTION: Well, perhaps, you could tell me to what extent Mr. Todd here is connected?

TENET: See, you're 0 for 2 and a walk. Let's go. How about baseball? Let's go there.

MODERATOR: George, thank you very much.

TENET: Thank you very, very much.

FULL STORY:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-02-05-tenet-transcript_x.htm
=====================================

CIA director defends intel officials' prewar efforts
WASHINGTON (AP) — In his first public defense in the growing controversy over intelligence, CIA Director George Tenet said Thursday that U.S. analysts never claimed before the war that Iraq was an imminent threat. The urgency of such a threat was the main argument used by President Bush for going to war.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-02-05-tenet_x.htm


Searched the web for APFN "IRAQ WMD" LEAKGATE.

CIA admits lack of specifics on Iraqi weapons before invasion




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