At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA

At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA
At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA  
GeorgeTenetBook.jpg
Book cover
Author(s) George Tenet with Bill Harlow
Country United States
Language English
Subject(s) Central Intelligence Agency
Genre(s) Memoir
Publisher HarperCollins
Publication date April 30, 2007
Media type Hardcover
Pages 576
ISBN 0061147788
OCLC Number 71163669
Dewey Decimal 327.12730092 B 22
LC Classification JK468.I6 T42 2007

At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA is a memoir co-written by former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency George Tenet with Bill Harlow, former CIA Director of Public Affairs. The book was released on April 30, 2007 and outlines Tenet's version of 9/11, the War on Terrorism, the 2001 War in Afghanistan, the run-up to the 2003 Iraq war, rough interrogation and other events.[1]

Contents

60 Minutes interview

On April 29, 2007, Tenet was interviewed about his memoir on 60 Minutes.[2] Tenet outlined the content of his book including allegations that are contrary to the George W. Bush administration positions.

Criticism

  • Tenet faced accusations of hypocrisy from former espionage officials on the book's release date, for not speaking out earlier against the White House's push to invade Iraq.[3]
  • Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice disputes Tenet's claim that the Bush administration, before the U.S. led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, never had a serious debate about whether Iraq posed an imminent threat or whether to tighten existing sanctions.[4]
  • CIA veteran, Michael Scheuer, states, "Sadly but fittingly, 'At the Center of the Storm' is likely to remind us that sometimes what lies at the center of a storm is a deafening silence."[5]
  • Robert Baer, author and former CIA field officer assigned to the Middle East states, "It's not that Tenet is responsible for getting us into Iraq. It's that he failed in not making a full disclosure to Congress and the White House that we were taking a leap into a bottomless black abyss. He should have resigned when he realized Bush would use bad intelligence to deceive the American people. This is what we get when we have a politicized CIA director."[6]
  • Douglas Feith, the former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, whom Tenet criticizes in his book, states: "The problem with George Tenet is that he doesn't seem to care to get his facts straight. He is not meticulous. He is willing to make up stories that suit his purposes and to suppress information that does not." In reference to Tenet's error regarding Richard Perle (see below), Feith wrote that "The date, the physical descriptions, the quotation marks are all, in the words of Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Mikado,' merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative." The memoir, Feith said, "...does offer insight into Mr. Tenet. It allows you to hear the way he talked -- fast, loose, blustery, emotional, imprecise, from the 'gut.' Mr. Tenet proudly refers to the guidance of his 'gut' several times in the book -- a strange boast from someone whose stock-in-trade should be accuracy and precision."[7]

Erratum

  • A key conversation with then Pentagon advisor Richard Perle on September 12, 2001, in which Tenet claims Perle told him that "Iraq had to pay for the attack" could not have occurred as Perle was stranded in Paris and did not return to Washington, D.C. until three days later,[4] however in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer during an episode of The Situation Room Perle admitted that the two men indeed crossed each other one morning, as claimed by Tenet, but only later in the same week and not on September 12.

See also

Related memoirs

References

  1. ^ HarperCollins - Official homepage
  2. ^ CBS News (2007-04-25). "George Tenet: At The Center Of The Storm". http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/25/60minutes/main2728375.shtml. Retrieved 2007-04-29. 
  3. ^ Fox News. "Ex-CIA director faces criticism over memoir". Reuters. http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2007-04-30T173127Z_01_SCH057785_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-TENET1.xml. Retrieved 2007-04-30. 
  4. ^ a b Associated Press. "Tenet Memoir Draws Heat From Key Players". http://www.losangeleschronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=25702. Retrieved 2007-04-30. 
  5. ^ The Washington Post (2007-04-29). "Tenet Tries to Shift the Blame. Don't Buy It.". http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/27/AR2007042702052.html. Retrieved 2007-04-29. 
  6. ^ TIME. "George Tenet's Real Failure". http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1617191,00.html. Retrieved 2007-05-03. 
  7. ^ The Wall Street Journal. "Inside the Inside Story". http://www.dougfeith.com/coverage_6.html. Retrieved 2007-05-04. 

External links

Reviews

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • CIA transnational anti-terrorism activities — This article deals with activities of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) related to terrorism. Especially after the CIA lost its coordinating role over the entire Intelligence Community (IC), it is impossible to understand US… …   Wikipedia

  • CIA activities in Iraq — Main article: CIA activities in the Near East, North Africa, South and Southwest Asia U.S. support of various Iraqi regimes was predicated upon the notion that Iraq was a key buffer state in geopolitical relations with the Soviet Union. A US… …   Wikipedia

  • CIA transnational anti-crime and anti-drug activities — This article deals with activities of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency related to transnational crime, including the illicit drug trade.Two offices of the CIA Directorate of Intelligence have analytical responsibilities in this area. The… …   Wikipedia

  • The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy — infobox Book | name = The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy orig title = translator = author = John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt cover artist = country = United States language = English series = classification = Non fiction genre = Politics… …   Wikipedia

  • Counterterrorist Center — The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency s Counterterrorist Center was established in 1986.Foundation and early yearsIn the face of international terrorist attacks, mainly by leftist Palestinians. The Reagan administration wanted to take the… …   Wikipedia

  • Climate of the Arctic — The climate of the Arctic is characterized by long, cold winters and short, cool summers. There is a large amount of variability in climate across the Arctic, but all regions experience extremes of solar radiation in both summer and winter. Some… …   Wikipedia

  • Counterterrorism Center — The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency s Counterterrorism Center was established in 1986. It is not to be confused with the National Counterterrorism Center, a separate entity. Contents 1 Foundation and early years 2 The 1990s 3 The Plan ,… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex episodes — The collection box released in North America by Manga Entertainment. Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (攻殻機動隊 STAND ALONE COMPLEX, Kōkaku Kidōtai Sutando Arōn Konpurekkusu …   Wikipedia

  • Timeline for the day of the September 11 attacks — The September 11, 2001 attacks, in addition to being a unique act of aggression, constituted a media event on a scale not seen since the advent of civilian global satellite links, round the clock television news organizations and the instant… …   Wikipedia

  • History of the Dominican Republic — The Dominican Republic occupies the eastern two thirds of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antilles. Successive waves of Arawak migrants, moving northward from the Orinoco delta in South America, settled the islands of the Caribbean.… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”