Friday, Sept. 2,
2005 11:00 a.m. EDT
Former CIA director George Tenet, said to be the target of
what the Washington Times called "a scathing report by
Inspector General John Helgerson” - may go public with embarrassing
disclosures about the Bush administration and its actions leading
up to Sept. 11, 2001.
The CIA report, prepared as the result of a 17-month investigation
by a team of 11 CIA officials, blames Tenet and several top
CIA officials for its failure pre-9/11 to deal with al-Qaida.
But former Reagan White House aide and intelligence expert
John B. Roberts II, quoting an anonymous source close to Tenet,
wrote in Thursday's Washington Times that the former chief spook
has no intention of taking it lying down.
The report, delivered to Congress this week, recommends punitive
sanctions against Tenet, former Deputy Director of Operations
James L. Pavitt and former counter-terrorist center head J.
Cofer Black.
Roberts writes, "George Tenet is not going to
let himself become the fall guy for the September 11th intelligence
failures, according to a former intelligence officer and a source
friendly to Mr. Tenet.”
In retaliation, Roberts says that Tenet may turn the tables
and put the blame on President Bush.
Tenet, he claims, has already written a fiery, 20-page,
"tightly knitted rebuttal” to the Inspector General's
report. But Tenet's response has been marked "classified,"
in contrast to usual CIA practice. Also unavailable to the public
is the report itself.
Roberts says Tenet's decision to strike back could be very
bad news for the President.
Wrote Roberts, "Mr. Tenet's decision to defend
himself against the charges in the report poses a potential
crisis for the White House.
"According to a former clandestine services officer,
the former CIA director turned down a publisher's $4.5 million
book offer because he didn't want to embarrass the White House
by rehashing the failure to prevent September 11 and the flawed
intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.”
Quoting a "knowledgeable source,” Roberts
wrote that Tenet "had a ‘wink and a nod’ understanding
with the White House that he wouldn't be scapegoated for intelligence
failings.”
Roberts claims a "deal" was made
between Tenet and Bush, one that was sealed with the President’s
award of the Presidential Freedom Medal to the former CIA head.
In his rebuttal, Tenet, Roberts warns, "treads
perilously close to affirming the account of Richard Clarke,
the former NSC terrorism official who claimed the Bush administration's
had delayed adopting a strategy against al-Qaida."
Current CIA Director Porter Goss is between a rock and a hard
place, according to Roberts, who explains that Goss will be
criticized for covering up if he does nothing. But if he follows
the IG's recommendation to convene formal hearings as a prelude
to sanctions, Tenet himself may go public to defend his reputation
by damaging the President and his administration.
Roberts concludes: "The $4.5 million book offer
may soon be back on the table, and this time Mr. Tenet might
take it.”
