George John Tenet was sworn in as the 18th Director
of Central Intelligence on July 11, 1997, following a
unanimous vote by both the Senate Select Committee
on Intelligence and the full Senate.  In this position,
he led the United States Intelligence Community, a
team of 14 foreign intelligence organizations, and
presided over the daily activities of one of its
members, the Central Intelligence Agency.

Under two presidents, Director Tenet led efforts to
rebuild and modernize our country’s capacity to
acquire, analyze and disseminate information vital
to the security of all Americans. These investments
in people and technology have enhanced our national
ability to fight global terrorism and meet the many
other challenges and opportunities that face the
United States overseas.

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Tenet served as
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, having been
confirmed in that post in July 1995. In December
1996, he was named Acting Director.

Mr. Tenet came to the Intelligence Community from
the National Security Council, where he was Special
Assistant to the President and Senior Director for
Intelligence Programs. In that office, he developed
and coordinated policies on virtually every aspect of
intelligence and espionage from collection priorities
to covert action.

Before joining the NSC, Mr. Tenet was a member of
President Clinton’s national security transition
team, responsible for a comprehensive assessment of
the Intelligence Community.

For more than four years, Mr. Tenet was Staff
Director of the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence under the chairmanship of Senator
David C. Boren. There, he coordinated the committee’
s full workload of oversight and legislation. His
previous service on the committee involved the
monitoring of arms control negotiations between the
United States and the Soviet Union, with emphasis
on the role and contributions of intelligence.He
joined the SSCI staff in August 1985 from the office
of Senator H. John Heinz III, where he had been
both a legislative assistant covering national
security and energy issues and legislative director.

Mr. Tenet is a member of the Faculty of the Edmund
A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown
University as Distinguished Professor in the
Practice of Diplomacy and Senior Research Associate
in the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. In Fall
2007, Mr. Tenet joined Allen & Company LLC as a
managing director.
GEORGE J. TENET
Facts From and About The Former
Director of Central Intelligence
BIOGRAPHY