Naval War College Review Volume 63 Article 15 Number 1 Winter

2010 At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA John R. Arpin

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Recommended Citation Arpin, John R. (2010) "At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA," Naval War College Review: Vol. 63 : No. 1 , Article 15. Available at: https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/nwc-review/vol63/iss1/15

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BOOK REVIEWS 161 Arpin: At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA

Tenet’s strengths were as a leader and visionary, strengths that civilian agen- cies, unlike the military, rarely have the Tenet, George. At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA. New York: HarperCollins, 2007. pleasure to experience. Tenet took over 549pp. $30 the agency during a time of demoraliza- tion and became its greatest champion, GeorgeTenet’stenureasDirectorof cheerleader, and advocate. If he was not Central Intelligence (DCI) was marked as successful within the larger intelli- throughout by controversy, so it is no gence community, it was not for lack of surprise that his memoirs face more of effort. the same. Partisans will never be satis- fied; policy and national security insid- Tenet’s appointment showed both the ers, regardless of their depth on the advantages and disadvantages of having inside, will find areas with which to dis- an intelligence outsider at the helm of agree; historians will decry the lack of the CIA. As an outsider, he was willing citations; and individuals who helped to to challenge the old ways of doing create some of that history will be glad things that any bureaucracy develops for that lack. over time. Changing from a Cold War world to a multipolar world required a Yet for readers not looking for confir- new perspective to meet new threats mation of their prejudices, At the Center and challenges. But outsiders cannot al- of the Storm will provide an engrossing ways recognize the nuances of the intel- narrative of a critical time in U.S. his- ligence craft (whether operational or tory. This much cannot be contested: analytic) and risk losing the balance George Tenet was a key player during a necessary for producing good intelli- period that reshaped this nation. Was gence. The reader can decide where he the best possible choice? Some will events like the now-infamous arguethathewasnot,whileotherswho “slam-dunk” incident belong. look back at the history of the CIA dur- ing the 1980s and 1990s will be grateful Decades from now, historians likely for his tenure. with no better knowledge than we have will write an objective account of DCI At the Center of the Storm is above all a George Tenet. If there is a degree of jus- story of love and passion, for Tenet is tice in the world, Tenet will be right- not a cold chronicler who hides his fully acknowledged as one of the emotions behind a detached, simple greatest DCIs in history. If these histo- narrative of events. As Virgil writes, “I rians are faithful to their craft, however, sing of arms and the man,” so does they will also point out that George Tenet. Just as his love for his country Tenet, like all great men, had an ele- and for his family shines throughout ment of hubris that in the end tarnished this work, so does his love for the CIA his record. and its officers. This book reads as a first-person history should. It is en- JOHN R. ARPIN grossing and fascinating, with the per- Major, U.S. Army Reserve (Retired) Centreville, Virginia sonal view of “this is what we were trying to do.”

Published by U.S. Naval War College Digital Commons, 2010 1

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