The Diplo-Spy

By DOUGLAS WALLER

George Tenet's limousine was pulling up near the Gaza Strip for a meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat Thursday afternoon when the car's secure phone rang. The U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv was on the horn, relaying a hurried call from Israeli officials, who claimed that the road crossing the CIA director was approaching was blocked; he couldn't enter Palestinian territory. What the Israelis didn't tell him was that their helicopter gunships were just miles away, about to rake targets near Arafat's Gaza City headquarters, and they didn't want Tenet caught in the cross fire. Tenet whipped his limo around and headed for Tel Aviv, where he phoned in a report to the White House. "It's pretty dicey here," he said.

That the head of the CIA was there at all was something of an astonishment. But in his three years as chief of the agency, the former National Security Council aide has rewritten his job description. Tenet is far less deskbound than his predecessors, ready to leave the security of the Langley, Va., headquarters for the action of the field. And though he's been working to clean up the inside of the agency--helping it adjust to post-cold war spying missions--he's also been a dramatic outside presence. President Clinton, for example, regularly calls on Tenet to chat with Arafat, relying on a loose friendship between the two men that dates back almost three years.

CIA hands grumble that their director has no business playing the diplomat. How can he give Clinton unbiased intelligence on whether Middle East peace initiatives are succeeding or failing if he has a stake in their success? The White House, at least, sees no conflict with its top spy moonlighting. "He winds up providing better intelligence" because he works more closely with the region's leaders, insists a Clinton aide. So Tenet will keep his seat at the negotiating table--to say nothing of his proximity to the front lines.

--By Douglas Waller