For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 3, 2004
Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan
Aboard Air Force One
En route Rome, Italy
12:43 P.M. EDT
MR. McCLELLAN: All right, good afternoon. I'm going to bring a
senior administration official back a little bit later in the flight to
give an overview of the upcoming trip to Europe, we're going to answer
your questions that might be related to that, but I know you all are
interested in today's announcement by Director Tenet, so I'm here to
answer whatever questions you have right now on that subject.
Q Did the President ask for his resignation?
MR. McCLELLAN: No. Director Tenet had requested a meeting with
the President. And as the President said, the Director resigned for
personal reasons.
Q You cannot elaborate on those reasons at all?
MR. McCLELLAN: I think that that would -- those questions would
best be directed to Director Tenet, and if he wants to expand on that
further, then we will leave it to him to do so. But the President made
it very clear that he's sorry to see him leave. Director Tenet has
been a strong and very capable public servant who has served the nation
for nearly nine years now. It is my understanding that the CIA will be
making his letter of resignation available publicly. We'll see if we
can't get that here for you all, as well, and give that to you all.
Q When did Director Tenet first suggest to the President he
was going to be resigning? Was it in this letter, or before that?
MR. McCLELLAN: Last night. Let me go back through a little bit of
yesterday, I guess, and hopefully that will help you with your
stories.
Director Tenet called Andy Card yesterday afternoon, when we were
at the Air Force Academy, and requested to meet with Secretary Card and
then the President. And Director Tenet was at the White House when we
arrived last night. I think we arrived a little bit after 7:00 p.m.
And the Director and Secretary Card met briefly in Secretary Card's
office. And then Director Tenet went over to the residence and met
with the President for approximately 45 minutes. And that's when
Director Tenet informed him that he had -- that he would be leaving, I
believe it's effective July 11th. And it was for personal reasons that
he was leaving.
Q The President had no advance warning before that, that he
was going to do this?
MR. McCLELLAN: No. That's when the President was told about
this.
Q But not even a suggestion or a hint there beforehand that
this was coming?
MR. McCLELLAN: No, as I said, Director Tenet contacted Secretary
Card when we were on the road in Colorado and just said that he needed
to meet with Secretary Card later, when they were back in Washington,
and then the President.
Q But, Scott, I mean, the Director has been Director for
seven years, the President is running for reelection -- it's a natural
time for a DCI to talk to a President about future plans. Had Director
Tenet given no hint that this was coming?
MR. McCLELLAN: He made it known to the President yesterday that he
had made a decision to resign. And I think in his letter he talks
about how he had been talking with his family for the past several
months. And, again, it was a decision based on personal reasons.
Q Did the President try and talk him out of it?
MR. McCLELLAN: I think the President understood his reasons for
leaving. The President greatly appreciates his service and his
leadership.
Q Are you saying after all of the intelligence failures of
the past year that the President was still satisfied with him, and that
he didn't want him out?
MR. McCLELLAN: I think the President made it very clear in his
remarks, if you look at what the President said, that the President
believed he was a very strong and capable leader. And the President,
as I said, has great appreciation for his service. So, yes, I reject
that.
Q Why would a Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
pull the plug on a President as he's heading into an election?
MR. McCLELLAN: Again, I think that those are questions you can
direct to Director Tenet, if he wants to expand further on the personal
reasons that he stated to the President that he was leaving --
Q He wasn't pushed --
MR. McCLELLAN: -- that it was based on personal reasons and it was
Director Tenet's decision.
Q He wasn't pushed out?
MR. McCLELLAN: That's what I said. It was Director Tenet's
decision.
Q Did I hear you say the word "family"? Was this about more
family time for the Director?
MR. McCLELLAN: Again, I'll leave it to the Director, if he wants
to expand further on the personal reasons that he told the President he
was resigning. But in his letter he does talk about how he had been
talking with his family for the past several months.
Q Did the President at any time pass a signal or suggest
indirectly to Director Tenet that now would be a good time to spend
more time with your family?
MR. McCLELLAN: No. Look, I understand there's going to be a lot
of speculation related to the Director's decision, but this was a
decision he made based on personal reasons. And that's what it is.
And the President was very clear in saying he is sorry to see him
leave. And the President meant that.
Q So that's a "no" to my specific --
MR. McCLELLAN: Yes.
Q -- question? "No" to a direct signal --
MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, that's right. That's correct.
Q -- no hint, we'd like you to go?
MR. McCLELLAN: That's what I just said.
Q Okay.
Q Was the President completely surprised by this yesterday?
MR. McCLELLAN: Again, the first time he was told about this was
last night, when he met with the Director.
Q Was he surprised, though?
MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know if I'd look at it that way. I think
he understood the reasons why the Director had made the decision to
resign. And, again, he appreciates his service very much.
Q Where does the search stand? Will this go past the
election, do you expect?
MR. McCLELLAN: Well, you heard the President in his remarks. The
President said that Deputy Director McLaughlin would serve in an acting
capacity once Director Tenet leaves. He is certainly a strong and
capable leader, himself, and the President has a lot of confidence in
his abilities. But, again, this is a decision that the President was
just informed about and we'll go through the process of beginning to
look at who should fill that position permanently. The process is
really just getting -- just now going to get underway.
Q It's a difficult process. Do you expect it to extend pass
the election?
MR. McCLELLAN: I'm not going to try to predict the timing on
that. But as I said, there is certainly a strong and capable leader in
Deputy Director McLaughlin, who will assume the responsibilities of the
Director once he leaves on July 11th.
Q The President said he was a strong and capable leader. Is
that the same thing as saying that he had full confidence in his
ability to lead the CIA --
MR. McCLELLAN: Yes. And, in fact, I think we've made that clear
previously, when asked over the last few months. Absolutely.
Q So you would have been happy -- the President would have
been happy for him to stay? MR. McCLELLAN: Look, we can speculate all
you want. That's getting into a hypothetical. He's come to a decision
that for personal reasons he is leaving. But the President was very
clear in his remarks. I think that you saw that in his remarks.
Q But if Director Tenet had not come to this decision, the
President would have been quite happy for him to remain?
MR. McCLELLAN: As I said, the President appreciates his service;
he had great confidence in the job that he was doing. And that's
getting into a complete hypothetical. The decision has been made.
Q That's not a "yes," though.
MR. McCLELLAN: Again, I think I answered your question. I mean,
it's a complete hypothetical at this point. The decision was made that
he was leaving. The President made it very clear that he was sorry to
see him leave. So I think that that answers the question. We can
speculate all we want, but I think we should look at the facts of what
occurred.
Q Is there any connection between this resignation and the
President consulting a lawyer in the CIA investigation?
MR. McCLELLAN: No. This was a decision made by Director Tenet for
personal reasons, and I would not connect it to anything else. Like I
said, I understand there is going to be a lot of speculation and that's
why I came back here to let you know what exactly occurred. And the
President also made it very clear in his remarks how sorry he was to
see him leave.
Q What about a connection to Chalabi?
MR. McCLELLAN: No. I just said in answer to Scott's question,
that I understand there is going to be a lot of speculation. I would
not make a connection to anything else, other than this was a decision
made by Director Tenet for personal reasons.
Q Was there any concern about the timing of this
announcement, when they had their discussion about when the
announcement would be made? I mean, the President is going over to
Europe and there's a possibility that this could overshadow some of the
themes that he wants to emphasize.
MR. McCLELLAN: Again, I don't think that anyone was looking at it
in that context. Director Tenet made the decision that he wanted to
meet with the President last night and inform him about his decision,
and that's what the timing was based on. I wouldn't look at it in
connection with anything else.
Q Thank you very much.
END 12:52 P.M. EDT
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