WP:Preserving CIA Status Will Test New Chief

[kskiska]

Monday, June 7, 2004; Page A01

The White House-sanctioned photos said it all: George Tenet with President Bush at Camp David as the Afghanistan war began. George Tenet seated behind Secretary of State Colin L. Powell at the U.N. briefing on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. George Tenet leaning across the president's desk addressing Vice President Cheney the day the Iraq war kicked off.

The message: After years of obscurity, the CIA was back, and at the center of the major White House decisions on foreign operations.

Of all the challenges that face Tenet's successor, John E. McLaughlin, when he steps into the job July 11, preserving the CIA's status at the White House and among world leaders will be among the toughest.

McLaughlin's tricky political task will be "to hold on" to the agency's voice at the White House during a tenure expected to last at least through the fall election, said one senior U.S. intelligence official.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20762-2004Jun6.html