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| Ex-Chief Leads Vocal Defense of C.I.A. | |
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| WASHINGTON — The last time George Tenet was asked about torture on television, he sounded defiant and jabbed his finger in the air. The year was 2007, and Mr. Tenet, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, was promoting his memoir when a question about waterboarding came up while he was being interviewed on CBS’ “60 Minutes.” | WASHINGTON — The last time George Tenet was asked about torture on television, he sounded defiant and jabbed his finger in the air. The year was 2007, and Mr. Tenet, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, was promoting his memoir when a question about waterboarding came up while he was being interviewed on CBS’ “60 Minutes.” |
| “You know, the image that’s been portrayed is we sat around the campfire and said, ‘Oh boy, now we go get to torture people,’ ” Mr. Tenet said, growing angry as the newsman Scott Pelley challenged him on how the agency interrogated terrorism suspects. “We don’t torture people. Let me say that again to you, we don’t torture people. O.K.?” | “You know, the image that’s been portrayed is we sat around the campfire and said, ‘Oh boy, now we go get to torture people,’ ” Mr. Tenet said, growing angry as the newsman Scott Pelley challenged him on how the agency interrogated terrorism suspects. “We don’t torture people. Let me say that again to you, we don’t torture people. O.K.?” |
| This week the Senate Intelligence Committee issued a long-awaited report detailing the gruesome interrogation techniques employed by the C.I.A. on Mr. Tenet’s watch as well as the false claims the agency made about their effectiveness. But Mr. Tenet, now a managing director of a secretive New York investment bank, has been nowhere in public view, leaving it to one of his successors — Michael V. Hayden, who was much less involved with the brutal interrogation program — to serve as the C.I.A.’s most vocal defender. | This week the Senate Intelligence Committee issued a long-awaited report detailing the gruesome interrogation techniques employed by the C.I.A. on Mr. Tenet’s watch as well as the false claims the agency made about their effectiveness. But Mr. Tenet, now a managing director of a secretive New York investment bank, has been nowhere in public view, leaving it to one of his successors — Michael V. Hayden, who was much less involved with the brutal interrogation program — to serve as the C.I.A.’s most vocal defender. |
| While Mr. Hayden has been all over television this week, Mr. Tenet has responded only in writing. But they are working in concert; their disparate approaches are part of an orchestrated campaign by the two former directors — and a third, Porter J. Goss — to defend the agency they all worked for by attacking the report’s credibility. | While Mr. Hayden has been all over television this week, Mr. Tenet has responded only in writing. But they are working in concert; their disparate approaches are part of an orchestrated campaign by the two former directors — and a third, Porter J. Goss — to defend the agency they all worked for by attacking the report’s credibility. |
| Other former Bush administration officials — notably former Vice President Dick Cheney — have also defended the C.I.A., but Mr. Hayden, who served as C.I.A. director from 2006 to 2009 and whose folksy manner makes for lively quotes, has emerged as their smoothest — and most willing — spokesman. | Other former Bush administration officials — notably former Vice President Dick Cheney — have also defended the C.I.A., but Mr. Hayden, who served as C.I.A. director from 2006 to 2009 and whose folksy manner makes for lively quotes, has emerged as their smoothest — and most willing — spokesman. |
| “He’s always been a great communicator, he has a way of turning a phrase, he’s very energetic and willing to engage and we’re lucky to have him on our team,” said Bill Harlow, a former C.I.A. official who is acting as the spokesman for Mr. Tenet and helping coordinate the response effort. “When it comes to TV it’s hard to match him.” | “He’s always been a great communicator, he has a way of turning a phrase, he’s very energetic and willing to engage and we’re lucky to have him on our team,” said Bill Harlow, a former C.I.A. official who is acting as the spokesman for Mr. Tenet and helping coordinate the response effort. “When it comes to TV it’s hard to match him.” |
| That effort, which includes a new website, began even before the committee issued its report on the agency’s harsh treatment of detainees. But while defending the agency on the airwaves and in print interviews, Mr. Hayden has also taken pains to point out — with a heavy dose of outrage — that he assumed the directorship of the C.I.A. after the worst abuses documented by the committee occurred, and then briefed the panel on the program. | That effort, which includes a new website, began even before the committee issued its report on the agency’s harsh treatment of detainees. But while defending the agency on the airwaves and in print interviews, Mr. Hayden has also taken pains to point out — with a heavy dose of outrage — that he assumed the directorship of the C.I.A. after the worst abuses documented by the committee occurred, and then briefed the panel on the program. |
| “Everything here happened before I got there, and I’m the one she condemns on the floor of the Senate?” he said in an interview with Politico, referring to Senator Dianne Feinstein, the committee chairwoman. “Gee, how’d that happen?” | “Everything here happened before I got there, and I’m the one she condemns on the floor of the Senate?” he said in an interview with Politico, referring to Senator Dianne Feinstein, the committee chairwoman. “Gee, how’d that happen?” |
| He went on: “I’m the dumb son of a bitch who went down and tried to lay out this program in great detail to them. I’m mentioned twice as much in there as George Tenet — but George and Porter Goss had 97 detainees during their tenure, while I had two.” | He went on: “I’m the dumb son of a bitch who went down and tried to lay out this program in great detail to them. I’m mentioned twice as much in there as George Tenet — but George and Porter Goss had 97 detainees during their tenure, while I had two.” |
| Mr. Hayden did not respond to an email request to comment for this article. | |
| The 61-year-old Mr. Tenet, a camera-shy son of Greek immigrants from Queens, began his career in Washington as a congressional aide and rose to become the nation’s youngest C.I.A. director. He served from 1997 to 2004, under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and led the agency in the wake of the 9/11 attacks during the most intense phase of the interrogations. | The 61-year-old Mr. Tenet, a camera-shy son of Greek immigrants from Queens, began his career in Washington as a congressional aide and rose to become the nation’s youngest C.I.A. director. He served from 1997 to 2004, under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and led the agency in the wake of the 9/11 attacks during the most intense phase of the interrogations. |
| The committee report presents a devastating description of the way the C.I.A. was run in that period, detailing what it said was an agency that was unprepared to take on the task of interrogating suspects from Al Qaeda and was deceitful in describing the results. Mr. Tenet is depicted in the Senate report as largely removed from the actual management of the interrogation program. The report notes, for instance, that although Mr. Tenet issued guidelines for using the brutal tactics in early 2003, “serious management problems persisted,” and C.I.A. officials made the “unsettling discovery” that they knew very little about some of the prisoners they were holding. | The committee report presents a devastating description of the way the C.I.A. was run in that period, detailing what it said was an agency that was unprepared to take on the task of interrogating suspects from Al Qaeda and was deceitful in describing the results. Mr. Tenet is depicted in the Senate report as largely removed from the actual management of the interrogation program. The report notes, for instance, that although Mr. Tenet issued guidelines for using the brutal tactics in early 2003, “serious management problems persisted,” and C.I.A. officials made the “unsettling discovery” that they knew very little about some of the prisoners they were holding. |
| Mr. Harlow said Mr. Tenet is shying away from television out of personal preference. But one former agency official, who knows Mr. Tenet’s thinking, said he soured on the news media after the “60 Minutes” interview; he went in thinking he was going to pitch his book, this person said, and “felt like he had been sandbagged.” | Mr. Harlow said Mr. Tenet is shying away from television out of personal preference. But one former agency official, who knows Mr. Tenet’s thinking, said he soured on the news media after the “60 Minutes” interview; he went in thinking he was going to pitch his book, this person said, and “felt like he had been sandbagged.” |
| Mr. Tenet declined to comment for this article, as did Mr. Goss, who spends his time farming, writing and giving occasional speeches. But both men have worked to engineer the counteroffensive to the report, along with other former officials, including John E. McLaughlin, a former acting C.I.A. director, and John A. Rizzo, the C.I.A.’s former chief counsel, who has also been making the rounds of television this week. | |
| For Mr. Rizzo, there is reason to do so beyond merely defending himself; he is promoting his recent book, “Company Man,” a memoir of his three decades as a C.I.A. lawyer. “I’ve accepted any and all invitations,” Mr. Rizzo said Friday, after an appearance on the MSNBC program “Morning Joe.” | For Mr. Rizzo, there is reason to do so beyond merely defending himself; he is promoting his recent book, “Company Man,” a memoir of his three decades as a C.I.A. lawyer. “I’ve accepted any and all invitations,” Mr. Rizzo said Friday, after an appearance on the MSNBC program “Morning Joe.” |
| Planning for the counteroffensive began last spring, as tidbits about the forthcoming report began leaking to the press. Mr. Tenet was among a handful of former officials allowed to see the report in advance; he later became “the driving force,” Mr. Harlow said, behind a lengthy opinion piece, published by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday to coincide with the report’s release. The article was prepared in advance, and cleared by C.I.A. censors. | Planning for the counteroffensive began last spring, as tidbits about the forthcoming report began leaking to the press. Mr. Tenet was among a handful of former officials allowed to see the report in advance; he later became “the driving force,” Mr. Harlow said, behind a lengthy opinion piece, published by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday to coincide with the report’s release. The article was prepared in advance, and cleared by C.I.A. censors. |
| Mr. Tenet also issued his own statement, in which he called the report, written by committee Democrats, “biased, inaccurate and destructive.” He urged people to read the Republican minority report, which he said would demonstrate that “at a time of grave threat to the United States, the program was effective in saving American lives.” | Mr. Tenet also issued his own statement, in which he called the report, written by committee Democrats, “biased, inaccurate and destructive.” He urged people to read the Republican minority report, which he said would demonstrate that “at a time of grave threat to the United States, the program was effective in saving American lives.” |
| While Mr. Tenet would seem to have more at stake, Mr. Hayden, 69, a retired Air Force four-star general who ran the National Security Agency before that, is mentioned in the report 204 times — more than Mr. Tenet and Mr. Goss combined. | While Mr. Tenet would seem to have more at stake, Mr. Hayden, 69, a retired Air Force four-star general who ran the National Security Agency before that, is mentioned in the report 204 times — more than Mr. Tenet and Mr. Goss combined. |
| The report took aim at what it said were his misleading statements to the intelligence committee about the interrogations. In one episode recounted in the report, Mr. Hayden told a C.I.A. aide to “keep the detainee number at 98” in agency reports, even though the actual number of prisoners was at least 112. | The report took aim at what it said were his misleading statements to the intelligence committee about the interrogations. In one episode recounted in the report, Mr. Hayden told a C.I.A. aide to “keep the detainee number at 98” in agency reports, even though the actual number of prisoners was at least 112. |
| While Mr. Harlow insisted there was no coordinated media strategy, Matthew Miller, a crisis-management strategist in Washington who worked as the Justice Department spokesman early in the Obama administration, said it was a “pretty smart move” by the ex-C.I.A. officials to make Mr. Hayden their point man, rather than Mr. Tenet. | While Mr. Harlow insisted there was no coordinated media strategy, Matthew Miller, a crisis-management strategist in Washington who worked as the Justice Department spokesman early in the Obama administration, said it was a “pretty smart move” by the ex-C.I.A. officials to make Mr. Hayden their point man, rather than Mr. Tenet. |
| “If you get Tenet on TV,” he said, “he has to answer a bunch of questions about what he knew, and he has more to answer for.” | “If you get Tenet on TV,” he said, “he has to answer a bunch of questions about what he knew, and he has more to answer for.” |
| In an interview this week with Katty Kay of the BBC, Mr. Hayden basically said as much. | In an interview this week with Katty Kay of the BBC, Mr. Hayden basically said as much. |
| “Most of this stuff I didn’t do, most of this stuff came before me,” he said, adding, “So I guess that’s why I’m here. I think most people view me to be a slightly more objective judge to the program than the individuals that actually conducted it.” | “Most of this stuff I didn’t do, most of this stuff came before me,” he said, adding, “So I guess that’s why I’m here. I think most people view me to be a slightly more objective judge to the program than the individuals that actually conducted it.” |
| But whether the public relations offensive is changing any minds remains an open question. “To what extent we have an impact, I don’t know,” Mr. Harlow said Friday, “but we’ve got to try.” | But whether the public relations offensive is changing any minds remains an open question. “To what extent we have an impact, I don’t know,” Mr. Harlow said Friday, “but we’ve got to try.” |