What America needs to be looking at isn’t scapegoats, but the process. How do we keep getting it wrong, and how do we stop getting it wrong? Sen. Snowe is correct in her comments regarding Mr. Tenet’s contribution to the tragedies America has suffered these past four years.

We hear from Republicans and Democrats that Mr. Tenet is very personable. Someone who rises to the top of an organization is often good at telling the boss what he or she wants to hear. The president wanted to hear that Iraq was a threat, and that is what Mr. Tenet, as the director of the CIA, told him.

We need a process that identifies those who consistently get it right. The Billy Mithchells, the Richard Clarks, the Gen. Zinnis, the General Schwarzkopfs of public service. Whether they tell us what we want to hear or not, if they consistently make accurate assessments and predictions, these are the people we need to have moved into decision-making positions.

Rather than support Richard Clark’s assessment of the imminent danger of al-Qaida and terrorism, Mr. Tenet told the president what he wanted to hear.

We might replace Tenet, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, but unless we replace George Bush and the process that put monomaniacs on a mission into power, it’ll be deja vu all over again.

Tom Bulger, Wilton

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