Person of the Week: George Tenet

July 9, 2004 -- CIA Director George Tenet is leaving his post on Sunday, a position he held for seven years.

His departure will come two days after a scathing report from the Senate Intelligence Committee on the CIA's handling of intelligence that led to the Iraq war. The report was highly critical of Tenet's leadership.

During a farewell address he gave at CIA headquarters last month, Tenet told his colleagues: "These have been eventful years filled with exhilaration and triumph, with pain and sorrow, and, yes, with questions about our performance. Such is the nature of a tough, essential business."

Tenet's decision to resign was not a simple one.

"I did not make this decision quickly or easily," Tenet told ABC News in an interview conducted before the Senate report was released. "But I know in my heart that the time is right to move on to the next phase of my life."

The CIA is facing more criticism now than at any time in recent history, and Tenet has been a polarizing figure. In the middle of a campaign year, many say he has also been a liability for President Bush.

"Somebody had to take a fall. I think he felt a couple of months ago that he had to do something," said former CIA Director Stansfield Turner.

But Tenet insists he is leaving purely for personal reasons, saying his family has spent far too long without him around.

"[My son] John Michael is going to be a senior next year," Tenet said during the ceremony. "I'm going to be a senior with him in high school. We're going to go to class together. We're going to party together. I'm going to learn how to instant message his friends — that would be an achievement."

Life-Changing Moment

The strain of the job had apparently reached a critical point one night last year, when Tenet took the family for a drive in Virginia.