NYT: Tenet became different person when Clinton left

This morning, the New York Times editorial board asked where the al Qaeda-fighting version of George Tenet went when Bush was elected?:

George Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, rang theQaeda alarm. He sent a memo to the entire intelligence community sayingthat he wanted no effort spared in the “war” with Osama bin Laden. Hetook on the president’s closest advisers to agitate for a strike on aQaeda base in Afghanistan.      

The disturbing thing was thatthis all happened under President Bill Clinton. When George W. Bush wonthe White House, Mr. Tenet seems to have shifted his priorities. TheC.I.A. chief suddenly seemed consumed with hanging on to his job(through such innovative antiterrorism measures as naming the C.I.A.’sLangley, Va., headquarters for Mr. Bush’s father).

The Bush teamwas so busy in 2001 trying to upend America’s global relationshipsaccording to a neo-conservative agenda that the then national securityadviser, Condoleezza Rice, did not see any urgency in reports that AlQaeda was determined to strike in the United States. Mr. Tenet laterhelped hype the “slam dunk” intelligence that Mr. Bush used to justifydiverting the military from the war of necessity against Al Qaeda inAfghanistan to the war of choice in Iraq.

The priorities of the two administrations were so fundamentally opposite.  Contrary to what ABC and Fox News' Chris Wallace want to believe, Bill Clinton was criticized by Republicans during his presidency for being "too obsessed" with Osama bin Laden.  He wanted to fight al Qaeda.  But immediately after Bush was elected, the attention turned to Saddam Hussein.

I highly recommend Richard Clarke's book Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror.