forget about loyalty down the chain of command.  It was all about George's glory.

Oh, and one more thing: in "At the Center of the Storm," George Tenet constantly misspells Johnny Micheal Spann's name.  Sic transit.

Tenet also portrays himself as a savvy operations guy.  But one story he omits from "CotS" is the cock-up that occurred in 2003, when he dispatched roughly two dozen CIA officers to Europe, to apprehend, snatch, and render to the Egyptian government a suspected al-Qa'ida-connected radical Muslim cleric named Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, aka Abu Omar.  Obviously, the operatives didn't identify themselves as U.S. Government employees during the operation-they used cover identities.

But on George Tenet's watch, improving the quality and air-tightness of case officers' cover identities, false documents, and other operational elements like secure communications and backstopped credit cards wasn't given much thought or priority.  This can be deduced because it didn't take the Italian authorities much time at all to identify Tenet's people through their credit cards, cell phones, and frequent-flyer mile requests.  The result: twenty-five CIA officers are under indictment in Italy on kidnapping charges.

Currently, CIA is still reeling from Tenet's tenure.  There is a dearth of veteran officers to mentor the young trainees.  The number of independent contractors-both outside personnel and CIA retirees brought back under contract-has exploded.  "Which," says one Directorate of Operations veteran, "Only proves that there aren't enough seasoned people around to get the job done."

And yet in "CotS," Tenet seems blissfully oblivious to the mess he made.  "Considering it all," he writes at the conclusion of his memoir's afterword, "would I make that long journey again?  Absolutely-in a heartbeat."
No thank you, George.  Once was quite enough.