IMPROVING INTELLIGENCE
December 11, 2002
Kill the president?
Two senators discuss the 9/11 report examining the failure of intelligence
agencies to prevent the terrorist attacks.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/congress/july-dec02/intelligence_12-11.html
"...GWEN IFILL: Senator Shelby let's talk about accountability. You have
been quoted on more than one occasion and again today talking about the
CIA, George Tenet, the director of Central Intelligence - saying that more
massive failures occurred on his watch than any CIA director in history.
Do you think he should resign?
SEN. RICHARD SHELBY: Well, I have spoken on that before. I would like him
to resign. Whether he stays there is up to President Bush. He works with
the president; he was not appointed by this president. I personally like
George Tenet. I think he has a lot of good attributes and in some areas
he's done a good job, but he has not even tried to manage the community.
But there are a lot of other people that ought to be held accountable. Look
at the former director of the CIA -- John Deutch -- on his watch a lot
things did happen that shouldn't have happened. Former FBI Director Louis
Freeh; he has got some accountability there. We can go on and on and I
believe people should be accountable for their actions or inactions.
GWEN IFILL: You call Louis Freeh's tenure at the FBI catastrophic I think
is the word you used.
SEN. RICHARD SHELBY: If you look back and you examine it, despite all of us
liking Louis Freeh, it was not the best -- finest hour of FBI ..."
