Queens-Born CIA Director Handles An October Surprise

The critical role given Central Intelligence Agency Director George J. Tenet in the newly-hammered out peace agreement in the Middle East is an October surprise on a couple of levels.
First, of course, it puts the CIA in the glare of the international spotlight (a new and maybe uncomfortable spot for a top-secret agency). And secondly it thrusts a Queens resident into what may be the Clinton Administration’s most decisive foreign policy initiative; one that could help the President to recoup from the Monica Lewinsky debacle.
Tenet, whose father once owned the Scobie Diner in Little Neck, is the most prominent Queens resident in the Clinton Administration.
Last week in a burst of candor not normally seen in this clandestine agency, Tenet spelled out some details of his role following the Wye River negotiations between the Middle East antagonists.
He points out that terror is one of the "principial evils" that the CIA fights on a daily basis and that for many years the CIA has been working with the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority to combat terrorists in their midst.
Tenet reveals that the agency has also tried to improve communications between the two sides on security matters as well as to improve the professionalism of security forces on the West Bank and Gaza.
Tenet’s point: there is nothing really new in this role for the CIA.
"What is slightly unusual in the current case is that the agency’s role has become widely publicized," Tenet said. "But this won’t change our role which will continue as before."
Tenets brother, Dr. William Tenet, is medical director of cardiovascular medicine at New York Hospital Queens in Flushing. Both Tenets attended Cardoza High School.
George Tenet is not the first Queens resident to hold the title of director of Central Intelligence. The first was William Casey of Elmhurst, a controversial CIA director under President Ronald Reagan.