June 3, 2004

Photo: CIA Director George Tenet pauses as he testifies before the 9/11 Commission on April 14.

Tenet went to the White House to inform Bush about his decision Wednesday night. “He told me he was resigning for personal reasons,” Bush told reporters. “I told him I’m sorry he’s leaving. He’s done a superb job on behalf of the American people.”

“He’s been a strong and able leader at the agency and I will miss him,” Bush added, without taking questions afterwards. “I send my blessings to George and his family and look forward to working with him until he leaves the agency.”

A CIA statement said Tenet's last day would be July 11 and that Tenet had said he wanted to spend more time with his family.

Bush said Tenet's deputy, John McLaughlin, will temporarily lead America’s premier spy agency until a successor is found. Among possible successors is House Intelligence Committee Chairman Porter Goss, R-Fla., a former CIA agent and McLaughlin.

Tenet had been under fire for the way the CIA monitored possible terrorist activity before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as well as intelligence failures related to the U.S.-led war against Iraq.

During his seven years at the CIA, speculation at times has swirled around whether Tenet would retire or be forced out, peaking after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and surging again after the flawed intelligence estimates about Iraq's fighting capability.

Even when his political capital appeared to be tanking, Tenet managed to hang on with what some say was a fierce loyalty to Bush and the CIA personnel. A likable, chummy personality, also helped keep him above water.

Conventional wisdom had been that Tenet, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, did not plan to stay on next year, no matter who won the White House. Tenet has been on the job since July 1997, an unusually lengthy tenure in a particularly taxing era for the intelligence community that he heads.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5129314/