Week 5, Assignment 2

The Concept of Ethical Obligations

George Tenet and the Last Great Days of the CIA

Modern Public Administration

Date:
Introduction

The purpose of this document is to analyze the case study titled, George Tenet and the Last

Days of the CIA. This case study was authored by Richard White, Jr. and depicted Mr. Tenets

strengths and weaknesses as they pertained to his position as director of the CIA. Moreover, this

case study evaluates the impact of his personality traits on his decision making as the leader of

such an important organization and the effect those decisions made towards his ethical

obligations as a public administrator. As a result, this document will focus on addressing four

questions posed as part of this written assignment to expound on findings researched based on

the case study written by Richard White, Jr.

Based on the findings, which include information obtained through the case study of Mr. Tenet

by the author Richard White Jr., along with other scholarly articles, Mr. Tenet is described as a

loyal man that began his professional career as a lobbyist. After building a reputation as a

pleaser, George Tenet was thrust into the position of the director of the Central Intelligence

Agency (CIA (Stillman, 2009, p. 484). Tenets resume was not exactly appropriate to take on

such a position of the director of the CIA along with the role of overseer of the intelligence

communitys alliances (Giraldi, 2007, p. 32). Hence, the following questions will be addressed

involving George Tenet and his decisions leading up to his resignation as the director of Central

Intelligence (DCI).
Identify four (4) cross-coded ethical dilemmas facing former CIA Director George Tenet
and assess their impact on his leadership abilities.

The concepts of ethical obligation Ethical obligations are rules and laws by which people are

expected to live and adhere to in order to undertake a profession. Most professionals as George

Tenet belonged to professional organizations which, among other things, are able to discipline

people for interfering in the ethical obligations and suspend or expel them from practice if the

interference is serious enough.

There were many ethical dilemmas experienced by the former CIA Director George Tenet,

among which were the violations of national and international human right policies. He was also

faced with the ethical dilemma of being honest to his colleagues, more so his field officers, and

most significantly the entire nation. All along he knew that the statements about Saddam

Hussein and chemical weapons were false, but he went along with them and cost American

families over four thousand lives. His mediation talks between former Palestinian leader Yasser

Arafat and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was an ethical concern.

Some people within the government did not think it was right for the tenet to play such a

significant role, and it caused doubts in his cabinet and the administration. Healso had ethical

dilemmas of loyalty; he started ignoring his field officers foundations and went for the

administrations baseless stories of WMD and thus the subsequent war in Iraq. There was a

reference in our readings by Stillman that as public administrators climb higher in organizational

hierarchy, they must contend with an increasingly intense tug and pull of competing ethical

obligations, which in the end caused George Tenet to resign and also the decline of CIA. George

tenet ethical dilemmas had resulted to his colleagues and the nation losing their trust and faith in

his leadership.
In my research I have found that conflict of interest exists when a businessperson is faced with

a situation in which an action benefiting one person or group has potential to harm another.

Honesty and integrity is valued very high among employers. An employee who is honest can be

counted on to tell the truth. An employee with integrity goes beyond truthfulness. Having

integrity means adhering to deeply felt ethical principles in business situations. It would be like

employees doing a procedure right all the time and one that will ensure it is done that way by

everyone he can influence. He may talk and make things around better to influence that

procedure. Loyalty versus truth, businesspeople except their employees to be loyal and act the

best interests of the company, but when the truth about the company is not favorable, an ethical

conflict can arise.

Analyze four (4) ways in which Tenet addressed the prioritization of ethical concerns.

George Tenet implemented several approaches to tackle the prioritization of his ethical

concerns among which was the protesting of CIA policies. During his mediation talks with

Yasser Arafat and Benjamin Netanyahu, the presidents of Palestine and Israel respectively,

Tenet established that both leaders had ethical concerns of both leaders as they did not trust one

another (Tenet 2007).

The statements by Tenet caused discomfort to several Washington insiders. He addressed the

insiders concerns regarding his under takings by showing explicable leadership qualities by

reassuring those involved that there was not a more convenient way he could choose. Another

prioritization was in the Clinton Administration, Osama Bin Laden had for the first time come

under the radar of the US government; Tenet communicated the threat of Osama Bin Laden to

the administrations top officials including President Clinton. He stated that the country was at
war, and did not want any expense spared when fighting this war both in personnel and other

resource means.

Tenet was concerned about the country not being prepared for an attack. When India began

testing their chemical weapon program on May 11th, 1988 it came as a surprise to the

intelligence agency of the United States, Tenet revealed to Senator Richard Shelby that they

had no idea of the undertaking of the Indian government. This was a rare moment in which the

truth was told, and this prevented the administration from reacting faster. The United States

intelligence armed with baseless information had war aircrafts bomb the Chinese embassy in

Belgrade in 1989; George tenet took responsibility for the wrong intelligence report and

findings.

Identify and explain four (4) strategies used in competing ethical obligations in relation
to the many intergovernmental organizations that overlapped his office.

There were four strategies that were used to implement ethical obligations in relation to the

many intergovernmental organizations that overlapped Tenets office. These strategies were

often used to ensure that all the corporate undertakings were legal, ethical, and that they

complied with all the approved regulatory guidelines and policies. Ethical strategies and plans

are used to provide directions to ensure that developments are been undertaken both for

individual and organizational outlook which are designed to be accomplished through the

ethics programs and training of employees. Ethics strategies are also used as a means for

overseeing and policing organizational undertaking, as taking this approach helps reduce both

the rate of legal and ethical violations. And in situations where ethical programs are not in

place, individual board members are held responsible for ethical lapses.
Communication is another strategy that is used to assist in building a sustainable and ethical

culture, and this method includes communicating behavioral expectations, training on

compliance issues, expectations and resolution of already existing situations. Use of this

method enhances compliance, and prevents both abuse and fraud, while adding to the

organizations value and effectiveness. The statement of values strategy, which provides

assistance in the communication and creation of organizations values, it also provides the

needed guidance to the individuals within the agency.

Furthermore, the use of the code of ethics underlines the importance of commitment to the

ethical behavior throughout the agency highlighting available methods of application of the

values in a representative situation. Lastly, leadership strategies as monitoring code

enforcement are important additions because they establish a locating responsibility for the

ethics program of any organization; ensuring that an organization receives consideration and its

requisite overlooked.

Elaborate on four (4) relevant notions for designing ethical maps for defining and
prioritizing ethical obligations.

Several of George Tenets major priorities were clearly defined goals and mission, improved

employee morale, improved working conditions, better undertaking of intelligence reports and

analysis, reinforcement of units with new qualified recruits and recalling past and proven

officers, better training, and better funding. To guarantee that these top priorities are met, Tenet

started rebuilding and appointing personnel. People such as distinguished retired veterans were

called back from retirement (Weiner 2007); he also sought out more funding but endured little

success with funding getting only a minimal raise (Tenet 2007).

Al-Qaeda was also a thorny and top priority issue and there was always a public and media

outcry when top intelligence officials wrote detailing highly uncomfortable secrets of on-going

top priority security issues. The CIA chief recorded the AL-Qaeda as the most recent security

warning, reporting that they were trying to strike with an atomic threat having developed a

nuclear weapon. (Pfiffner 2007)

Some of the approaches involved creating a stable government regardless of the circumstances.

He sought that governments should also make use other severalmethods including obedience to

the supervisors and only disobeying in private disregarding policies and directives that were

unethical, unfair, and establishing partnerships among entities at all governmental level.

Another notion would involve the formation of an agency that is well equipped to deal with

situations such as when internal opportunities for reporting ones dissent diminish.

Conclusion

The concept of ethical obligation has to apply to all professionals. We need to remember that it

is the honorable nature of the profession otherwise there is little to talk about ethics.

Comprehensive codes of ethics do not guarantee ethical practice but rather this lies in the

fundamental nature of being responsible for our actions. Honesty and honorable undertaking

are, of course, required from every person, whether he or she is engaged in professional

practice or in any other gainful occupation. But in a profession, pecuniary success is not the

only desired achievement.

In his farewell speech to his staff, I really liked the quote he used from President Roosevelt

which summed up everything, It is not the critic who counts or the man who points out how

the strong man stumbles or whether the doer of good deeds could have done them better. The
credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat

and blood.' Central Intelligence Agency, the men and women of this agency, were born into the

arena, and we are still there. (Koppel, 2009)

References:

Coll, S. (2006, Jan 12). Frontline The Dark Side. (PBS, Interviewer)

Denhardt, R.B., &Denhardt, J.V. (2009). Public administration: An action orientation: 2010
custom editiond. (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thompson Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Koppel, T. (2009). Person of the Week: George Tenet. ABC News, 1-2.

Pfiffner, J (2007). Intelligence and Decision Making Before the War in Iraq in the Polarised

Presidency of George W. Cush.New York: Oxford university press.

Posner, Steve (1998).The spy at wye.Washington post. October 27. New York : Harper Collins.

Tenet, G. (2007).At the Centre Of the Storm: my years at the CIA .New York: Harper Collins.

Stillman, R. J. (2009). Public Administration: Concept and Cases (9th ed.).

Weiner Tim (2007).Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. New York: Double day.