WASHINGTON — The post of CIA director, one of the most demanding and perilous in government, may be a fundamentally flawed job that makes it impossible for most occupants to succeed, experts and lawmakers said.
With his resignation last week, George J. Tenet became the latest in a long line of spy chiefs to leave office badly bruised by the experience. The track record is so dismal that some lawmakers have argued that the position should be dramatically restructured before Tenet's permanent replacement is selected.
"The resignation presents a huge opportunity, and I don't think the conversation should be about who replaces George Tenet as DCI," said Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. "It should be about how to change the DCI job so that the replacement can be successful."
The job of director of central intelligence, known as DCI, is specific and broad: The person directly leads the CIA and also heads the complex federation of the other 14 agencies that form the intelligence-gathering community. Longtime CIA veterans say it is hard to identify a director who left the job on his own terms, on his own timetable, with his reputation intact.
Some, such as Bay of Pigs planner Allen W. Dulles, have been fired for embarrassing intelligence failures. Others, such as accused Iran-Contra architect William J. Casey, left behind legacies of scandal and abuse of power.
Several were so disliked by the agency's clandestine operatives that they were undermined in the job and departed in frustration. And a few who managed to avert major controversy were pushed out by politics before they were ready to quit.
The proposal for change that has gained the most traction is to split the CIA director job in two -- one person would run the CIA and another would head a new Cabinet-level position with broad budgetary and hiring-and-firing authority over all the agencies in the intelligence community.
Harman has sponsored legislation in the House that would create a director of national intelligence. The Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to consider the idea during hearings this month, and inserted language in this year's intelligence authorization bill left open the possibility of enacting that and other reforms. The proposal also has the backing of members of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, which is expected to deliver its final report next month and issue a host of recommendations to the Bush administration and Congress.
