Tenet resigns for personal reasons .... BREAKING

[Solly Mack]

CNN..just now

[trof]

1. Wants to spend more time with his family.

yeah, right

[Solly Mack]

4. My thoughts exactly.

for the family...sure.

[seemslikeadream]

9. Yes the family

holy shit!

[Alerter_]

40. this is bad, now Bush can name another CIA director and plug the leaks

Tenet wasn't playing ball enough, so he gets fired. Now Bush has carte blanche to name a new CIA chief and crack down on dissidents and leakers at CIA.

[JHB]

52. Not quite...

Now a new director has to go through the selection & approval process.
Call your Congresscritters, and members of the Intel committees, and remind them that as vertebrates thy DO have backbones, and this is a damn good time to use them.

[Solly Mack]

55. Shrub won't make a decision until after November ( the speculation)

and then the scuttlebutt is making the director position a cabinet post.

but we'll see...

[graham67]

2. I'm guessing...

He wants to spend more time with his family. :eyes:

[Vladimir]

3. Any news on the succession? n/t

[troublemaker]

7. "I send my blessings to George and his family..."

Now there's a new Presidential function! I remember when Presidents offered their prayers, not their blessing.

[Kahuna]

16. Did he really say that? The truth emerges. He really does think..

he is a divine being. :puke:

[scrotim]

37. That is creepily revealing, isn't it? Shrub is a sick, sick fuck. n/t

[seemslikeadream]

mclaughlin ?

yea that's it

[Vladimir]

25. We live in interesting times... n/t

[Solly Mack]

27. John E. McLaughlin in mid July...no decision until after election

on naming a new director. John E. McLaughlin will only be acting director.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

5. Well...... it's not April. Are you making this up? n/t

[Solly Mack]

8. Tune into CNN. It's happening as I type. n/t

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

14. I was joking. Of course I believe you. I'm at work though, shit. n/t

[Solly Mack]

19. John E. McLaughlin, deputy director will take over as "acting" director

in mid-July.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

28. Thanx. Do you know anything about McLaughlin's history? I don't . n/t

[Solly Mack]

35. Not much...but am doing a google.! :)

Have a good day at work!! I'll post what I find.

[Solly Mack]

38. Here you go - an official CIA bio...so far (been Deputy D since 2000)

http://www.cia.gov/cia/information/mclaughlin01.html

John E. McLaughlin was sworn in as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence on 19 October 2000.

Previously he served as Deputy Director for Intelligence, Vice Chairman for Estimates and as Acting Chairman of the National Intelligence Council.

Mr. McLaughlin came to the CIA in 1972, and worked in the early part of his career on various European, Russian, and Eurasian issues in the Directorate of Intelligence. In 1984-85, he served a rotational tour at State Department in the Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs, where he was responsible for following European relations with the Middle East, Central America, and Africa. In September 1985, he became the Deputy Director of the Office of European Analysis, and in April 1989, Mr. McLaughlin was appointed the Director of European Analysis. Three months after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Mr. McLaughlin was appointed the Director of Slavic and Eurasian Analysis. He held this position until mid-1995, concentrating on political, economic, and military issues in Russia and the 14 other new states that emerged from the USSR. During this period, he represented the Intelligence Community on numerous diplomatic delegations visiting Russia and the other newly-independent states.

During his tenure as Deputy Director for Intelligence from July 1997 to July 2000, Mr. McLaughlin was responsible for the analysis of political, economic, and military events worldwide. During this period, he created the Senior Analytic Service, a CIA career track that enables analysts to rise to very senior rank without branching out into management. He also founded The Sherman Kent School for Intelligence Analysis, an institution dedicated to teaching the history, mission, and essential skills of the analytic profession to new CIA employees.

::snip::

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

39. Thanks again. n/t

[Solly Mack]

6. Bush "He's done a superb job for the American people"

will serve until mid-July...then deputy-director,John E. McLaughlin, will take acting director.

[Kahuna]

10. Aw jeez. Must have taken Al Gore's advice.

:7 :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[Beetwasher]

11. So It Begins!

Rats..Sinking Ship...CYA...

[KharmaTrain]

12. Bunnypants Looks Shell-shocked

Tenet leaves in mid July (right after June 30th).

Looks like this wasn't quite planned...and the timing is quite ominous.

OK, Tinfoilers and others...why??? Is he jumping the shark? Had enough? Another big scandal on the way? Covering his ass knowing Fitzgerald will be handing out subpoenas in the Wilson case around then? There's a lot of interesting questions here and I'll look forward to reading all the speculation throughout the day.

One thing for sure...don't expect a Tenet book until AFTER November.

[theboss]

23. Why would I read a book by this incompetent fool?

Clinton should have fired him, let alone Bush.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

43. Fired?

He shouldn't have hired him!

[chiburb]

32. My humble opinion...

BushCo will try to spin it that Tenet was "asked" to leave. However...

I think Tenet knows that he no longer has the support of The Company, because of Plame, Chalabi, lord knows what else. The Company is hell-bent on revenge, and Tenet can no longer run interference or protect BushCo from some very pissed off spooks. Hence the resignation...

Anybody else?

[KharmaTrain]

69. Spot On!

I've been amazed at how "loyal" Tenet has been to this regime as opposed to The Company. I still can't see what Clinton saw in this guy and what stuff the Bush Empire had to keep him taking all this crap for so long.

After digesting a cup of coffee, some talking heads and a trip to the little boy's room, I'm feeling Tenet was just worn out...and the Chalabi thing sounds like it could have been the last straw. You've gotta figure that any intel that leaked through that weasel went straight from the DOD and Chenney's office and there's gotta be a lotta pissed campers at Foggy Bottom and Langley.

Also, not sure anyone else has heard/seen this, and sorry I can't pop on a link, this was on the news last night (I think CNN's Newsnight)...that Powell has been pressing the CIA for all the intel to clear his name about his speech to the U.N. I wonder if there's a connection there.

Anywho...greetings neighbor and cheers!

[sundog]

13. It's crumbling, crumbling, crumbling...

:kick:

[PA Democrat]

15. Bush: "I send my blessings.."

to Tenet & his family. Who does George think he is that he extends his "BLESSINGS"? He really DOES think he's God.

[troublemaker]

17. Tenent has been trying to get out for years

But it's interesting that he strung this out long enough to shiv Chalabi (and by extension the entire Pentagon civilian operation)

It's safe to say the Pentagon challenge to CIA intelligence primacy has failed so he can afford to leave.

[Rose Siding]

56. I think that's right

Too, there may have been rising pressures on him from within the agency. Hard to know motives but the "it's a slam dunk" comment doesn't leave him with much credibility on anything else.

[nostamj]

18. when does HIS book come out?

just wondering....

[theboss]

20. About freakin' time

He should have been fired . . .God ...six...seven . . .who knows . . times by now.

[Don_G]

21. He's Probably Counting On A Presidential Pardon

:-)

[4morewars]

22. What was that sound ??

ahhhh, it's shit hitting a fan !!!!!

[theboss]

31. Explain to me how this helps the Dems

An incompetent CIA director (who was appointed by a Dem) is leaving the Bush administration.

If anything, this may reduce the Administration's fuck-ups by 20 percent.

[troublemaker]

57. People are primitive

All resignations and firings are a show of weakness. This is bad for Bush because it makes his operation appear unstable and in disarray.

Plus it guarantees a round of confirmation hearings dredging up Iraq pre-war intel questions

[theboss]

60. Which allows them to bury a Clinton appointee

I think Bush kept Tenet, because it gave him political cover.

"I'm too nice to fire people, but can you believe I inherited this moron from the last President?"

[Eloriel]

65. He's hardly incompetent, IMO

I don't happen to like him, but that's because I see him as a typical CIA guy: all lies for "the cause." All that "incompetence" is just a cover, IMO, for what either the CIA or the Bush Admin wanted to do anyway. I also doubt he's losing much support of the Company, UNLESS they're tired of taking it on the chin for and being abused and underappreciated by Bush. So my take on this is similar to chiburb's (slightly upthread). I think he's getting out of the way before the fall (of Bush) -- perhaps getting out of the way so that the fall can happen more easily and it doesn't have anything like his fingerprints on it, or near it.

I hope I'm not romanticizing a creep -- I don't trust him in the least, but even tho the press is reporting how "close" he is to Bush, I just can't imagine that that's anything but an act of opportunism on Tenet's part.

We'll have to wait and see how this shakes out. All I know is that between George Bush and George Tenet, I trust Tenet more, much more. That's not saying much, because I have an inherent (and wellfounded) distrust of most of the CIA including Tenet. But I DO think Tenet is smarter than Bush (hah! isn't everybody?).

Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC saying just now that he's tired of all the pressure, and that he'd lost one ally, Colin Powell, who is angry with the CiA for letting him hang out at the U.N. with all that disinformation. (Which is just Powell covering his own ass, IMO. If he didn't know the truth, he's more incompetent than I would have imagined.) She's saying this is just the right time politically for him to go.

[Jacobin]

67. Very well said

I think he was dragged kicking and screaming into invading Iraq.

[BabsSong]

24. Now I wonder if he will help bring Bush down!!!

Or maybe it has been discovered that he is trying to bring Bush down. I think our government is basically falling apart--how about you?? We have the Cheney-Rummy vs. Powell wars, etc. Bush has blown up our government but good.

[trof]

26. * met with Tenet last night and it went like this:

(phone call, 5:30 p.m., * to Tenet)
"George?
How about getting your ass over here post-haste and bring your resignation with you."
<click>

[Sparkly]

29. Will he spill some new beans??

Will he write a book?
Will he go on talk shows?
Will he add his name to the list that includes Joe Wilson, Paul O'Neill, and Richard Clarke?

[zydeco]

30. All the presidents men II

The saga continues. It is hard to like any rw nuts.

[Corgigal]

33. Maybe he tired

of personally being the Bush punching bag. You know the Clinton hold over thingy. Bush needed Tenet just for this reason and it got yanked.

[Blue_Roses]

34. WHAAAAAAAAAAT?

Whoa. This prosecutor is really shaking things up.

[TrogL]

36. Does this have something to do with the mole?

Is he the mole?

[mopaul]

41. "MAN ESCAPES BURNING HOUSE, for Personal reasons....n/t

[Minstrel Boy]

42. Wonder if his plans include taking a solitary fishing trip, like

the late and former CIA director William Colby, or spilling beans before a congressional inquiry, like the late and former CIA director William Casey?

[Alerter_]

49. he'll shoot himself in the back of the head repeatedly with a rifle

These people can commit suicide in amazing ways

[Eloriel]

66. with his hands tied behind his back n/t

[seemslikeadream]

68. or poor Martha Mitchel!

[LittleApple81]

44. Watching Bush* on MSNBC right now. Shell shocked, I tell you!

I am shocked, shocked....

[LittleApple81]

46. Singing the praises of Tenet. But Bush* really sounds sad...

It is weird.

[LittleApple81]

47. Stansfield Turner (CIA director during Carter) commenting on MSNBC

now.
Says that Tenet did not get the authority and cooperation he should have.
For WMD: WH and Pentagon put a lot of pressure on Tenet to come up with what they wanted. He said he did not know if the pressure affected Tenet, but he knew that the pressure had been there.

[LittleApple81]

50. David Gregory (NBC news) says that Tenet went personally

to see Bush* last night to present his resignation.
That Bush says that it had nothing to do with his performance (no pressure to resign.)

[LittleApple81]

51. Insisting that the resignation is because of personal reasons.

And that Bush did not want him to go.

[LittleApple81]

53. Now asking Turner for his opinion on what Gregory said:

He thinks that Tenet did not get enough support to do his job. But he says he doubts that Tenet being a loyal member of the CIA would like to leave right before an election.

[LittleApple81]

54. Is it going to hurt Tenet's reputation? People will have to accept

what he says about reasons to leave but still a lot of speculation will go on about the "real" reasons for leaving.

[theboss]

61. Does he even have a reputation at this point?

Am I the only one who has been following this guy's career?

[Hamlette]

62. you don't leave in the middle of an election year unless

1. you are a drag on the ticket and you're asked to leave in which case Tenet will be the fall guy for Iraq and 9-11
2. you really do have personal reasons but it has to be like you are dying of cancer
3. you can no longer support the admin in which case you have to tell about it.

[seabeyond]

45. oh goody another story to be told

and then figured out later amongst all the lieing

[Solly Mack]

48. Might be making CIA director a "cabinet" position....

under homeland security measures...a reorganization of intelligence.

[trof]

58. Turner on CNN just now.

Tenet is being pushed out. Scapegoated.
He wouldn't pull the plug on the president in the middle of an election cycle, unless the president asked him to.

[Solly Mack]

59. Few are buying the "personal reasons" excuse

with good reason.

A shake-up in intelligence during the "summer of terror", before an election?

to have been a fly on the wall last night in the whitehouse...

[Norquist Nemesis]

63. err...YUP! The biggest intelligence failure

is not the CIA under Tenet...It's Bush himself!

[DemonFighterLives]

64. I'm thinking this can only be good.

He's been falling on his sword for Bush all along. They showed Tenet over the shoulder of Colin at the UN supporting the false weapons intelligence. His positives are very low. Didn't he try to keep the 16 words out of the SOTU? Tenet sounded like a mafia don at the 9/11 commission hearings.
Who knows?