A Reality Check: Tenet Tells His Story and its definately worth listening to

books:


	• At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA George Tenet HarperCollins, 2007 - 576 pages average customer review:based on 75 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Director of Central Intelligence - DCI

Good. Provides (unclassified) insight into the interworkings of two presidents in the areas of Foreign Policy, National Security, and Intelligence. Nice to see that a DCI can work with two adminstrations and political parties; most DCIs do not last three years due to personalities or politics. It is one of the most thankless jobs in the world: everybody hates you, they are suspicious of you, and expect you can do everything all the time. I was amazed he was involved in foreign relation negotiation: a DCI is not to be involved in politics. I see some points of contention about his track record but he was one of the better ones.

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Fascinating, but Biased, Look at our Government from 1997-2004

George Tenet's autobiographical "At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA" is an interesting and readable look at George Tenet's years as the Director of Central Intelligence - key years that included the 9/11 attacks the beginning of the war in Iraq. This is an extremely interesting book that gives Tenet's side of many of the contentious debates that have swirled over the past few years regarding the CIA.

Tenet seems to have written this book in response to the criticism leveled against the CIA and him personally. He gives a detailed play-by-play of the Valeria Plame/Joe Wilson story (one of those stories that shocked the "Inside the Beltway" crowd but seems to have been of little interest to the rest of America) and the attendant debate over the inclusion of yellowcake in the President's State of the Union Address; he steadfastly denies the "slam-dunk" story as portrayed by Bob Woodward; and he is adamant that the CIA's National Intelligence Estimate of the Iraqi WMD was sound and not influenced by any political pressure, just based on flawed and unverifiable data (and the lack of WMDs was hidden by a madman who wanted everyone to believe that he had them). However, Tenet's entire perspective is blemished by his early telling of a meeting with Richard Perle on September 12, 2001, when Richard Perle told him, "Iraq has to pay a price." This account, in the introductory pages of the book and soon partly-debunked by verified reports that Perle was stranded in France after 9/11 (he may have told Tenet that, but it wasn't the day after 9/11 as Tenet claims), made me believe that some of Tenet's more sensational criticisms were made to sell books, grind some axes, or both.

Still, Tenet writes his story in an easy-to-read, entertaining, and matter-of-fact manner. It's fascinating to read about the daily lives of his government officials - about their security details, the meetings, the frantic pace, the nonstop work, the amusing anecdotes, and the personal relationships they build with those around them.

I'll leave out any discussion of Tenet's performance during his tenure as DCI because Tenet rarely focuses on the big picture of his time at DCI. He does freely discuss and criticize others around him: he is harshly critical of Cheney and his staff; he blames Douglas Feith for many of the Iraq-al Qaeda problems; he criticizes the Administration's faith and reliance on Ahmed Chalabi; he says that the National Security Council failed to take any steps to strategically counter the rising insurgency in Iraq; and he writes about some tension with Condoleezza Rice. Although he left his job as DCI seemingly at war with the Administration, Tenet never criticizes President Bush in his book, and when he talked about or criticized "the White House," I got the impression he was criticizing Cheney.

This is a very interesting inside account of our government during the last 10 years. However, it gives one man's view - one man who was truly at the center of the storm - and his perspectives should be put in the context of the bigger events swirling around him. Although I found this book interesting, its personal biases (natural in any autobiographical account) and perspective prevent it from being a definitive account: instead, it would be of most interest to intelligence wonks and Inside-the-Beltway readers.

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At the center of the storm

Although this book is voluminuos it is very insightful and a must read for contemporary critics and pundits of the recent politics. To read the behind the scenes, day to day banter and politics from the CIA directors point of view is absolutely fascinating and compelling. If you heva ever seen George on any of his interviews he is magnetic and charismatic at the core. A very bright man that has made his mark on history and has shared his stories for all to see and hear. Cathartic or not one of the best reads in the past few years for me. I also have passed this around to a few friends and each peson has cherised the read.

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A Reality Check: Tenet Tells His Story and its definately worth listening to

So much is made of Tenet, the "Slam Dunk", and his reluctancy to execute operation plans against UBL.
Tenet takes you into the inner circle and gives you his version of Washington politics on several topics. From the Israel-Palestinian Conflict, the War in Afghanistan and Iraq, and his battle against Al Qaeda.
For anyone interested in a real perspective, you will enjoy this book tremendously, for it is not simply a defense, it is his story. He does not attack Pres. Bush, he compliments him several times over. He does however outline the Gross Incompetence in the War in Iraq by the DOD.

If you are into Poli Sci, this is a MUST.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

In the whirlwind of accusations and recriminations that emerged in the wake of 9/11 and the Iraq war, one man's vital testimony has been conspicuously absent. Candid and gripping, At the Center of the Storm recounts George Tenet's time at the Central Intelligence Agency, a revealing look at the inner workings of the most important intelligence organization in the world during the most challenging times in recent history. With unparalleled access to both the highest echelons of government and raw intelligence from the field, Tenet illuminates the CIA's painstaking attempts to prepare the country against new and deadly threats, disentangles the interlocking events that led to 9/11, and offers explosive new information on the deliberations and strategies that culminated in the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Beginning with his appointment as Director of Central Intelligence in 1997, Tenet unfolds the momentous events that led to 9/11 as he saw and experienced them: his declaration of war on al-Qa'ida; the CIA's covert operations inside Afghanistan; the worldwide operational plan to fight terrorists; his warnings of imminent attacks against American interests to White House officials in the summer of 2001; and the plan for a coordinated and devastating counterattack against al-Qa'ida laid down just six days after the attacks.

Tenet's compelling narrative then turns to the war in Iraq as he provides dramatic insight and background on the run-up to the invasion, including a firsthand account of the fallout from the inclusion of "sixteen words" in the president's 2003 State of the Union address, which claimed that Saddam Hussein had sought to purchase uranium from Africa; the true context of Tenet's own now-famous "slam dunk" comment regarding Saddam's WMD program; and the CIA's critical role in an administration predisposed to take the country to war. In doing so, he sets the record straight about CIA operations and shows readers that the truth is more complex than suggested in other versions of recent history offered thus far.

Through it all, Tenet paints an unflinching self-portrait of a man caught between the warring forces of the administration's decision-making process, the reams of frightening intelligence pouring in from around the world, and his own conscience. In At the Center of the Storm, George Tenet draws on his unmatched experience within the opaque mirrors of intelligence and provides crucial information previously undisclosed to offer a moving, revelatory profile of both a man and a nation in times of crisis.

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