George Tenet

About the author: George Tenet is director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

The CIA exists to gather information on foreign nations, analyze and synthesize that information to help the president make informed policy decisions, and provide warnings about major geopolitical transformations that threaten national security. Such activities have become even more important since the CIA was established in 1947. For one thing, the communications and information revolution has resulted in a massive increase in the amount of information available, and the president needs an agency to make sense of it. Moreover, the global proliferation of biological and nuclear weapons makes an agency that can obtain information about the weapons capabilities of America's enemies more important than ever. CIA agents accomplish these critical tasks on behalf of the American people every day at great risk to themselves simply...