Tenet to remain as CIA chief till year-end

WASHINGTON — George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, has agreed to stay in his post at least through the end of the year, according to three people close to Tenet.

Tenet made the pledge in December after a personal appeal from President Bush, who had learned that the intelligence chief was thinking about stepping down, the people close to Tenet said. Bush even appealed to Tenet's wife, Stephanie Glakas-Tenet, by telling her that her husband's continued service was important to the country, the people said.

Tenet, who took office in 1997, has long told friends that he wanted to step down from his post. But Tenet has also told friends that he was not eager to leave at a time when the CIA and the rest of the community are coming under criticism for their role in misjudging Iraq's stockpiles of illicit weapons.

Some members of Congress, including Sen. Bob Graham, the Florida Democrat who is a former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, have said that Tenet should resign or be fired because of the apparent misjudgments made by U.S. intelligence agencies in providing prewar assessments about Iraq's illicit weapons.

But the White House has defended Tenet by saying that it is too soon to judge the extent of any intelligence failure on Iraq, and by noting that U.S. intelligence agencies were not alone in having concluded that Iraq possessed chemical and biological weapons at the time of the U.S.-led invasion last March.

Though he was appointed by President Bill Clinton, Tenet has forged a close personal relationship with President Bush, and meets with him six mornings a week to provide intelligence briefings.