After the 2003 State of the Union address, when President Bush cited British intelligence reports referencing the Iraq-Niger yellowcake deal, Wilson went public with his information. "I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat," Wilson wrote in The New York Times. Wilson, like Clarke, is now seeking a permanent position in a Kerry administration; the Kerry official Web site labels Wilson one of the heroes of the Kerry campaign.

More than anyone within the Bush administration, CIA Director George Tenet has damaged President Bush's credibility and re-election chances. The Washington Post reported in December 2000 that Bush was likely to keep the Clinton-appointed Tenet on as a bipartisan concession. Not only did Tenet remain at the CIA, much of his staff did as well, including John McLaughlin, Joan Dempsey, Robert McNamara Jr., James Simon, John Gannon and Charles Allen.

Unlike Wilson and Clarke, Tenet does not openly criticize President Bush. But it was Tenet's CIA that gave Joe Wilson the Niger job; it was Tenet's CIA that blew the intelligence on Iraq; it was Tenet's CIA that failed to prevent Sept. 11. In a classic CYA maneuver in February 2004, Tenet said in a speech at Georgetown University that CIA analysts "never said there was an 'imminent' threat" with regard to Iraq. His words provided ammunition to John Kerry, who stated in a press release that Tenet's speech proved "George Bush, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld and the rest of the administration weren't passing on sound facts on Iraq to the American people -- they were playing politics with our national security."

Now, with his job on the line, Tenet has strongly supported the war in Iraq and the intelligence findings leading up to it. The question remains: If Bush had dropped Tenet after the 2000 election, how would events have been altered?

It is excusable for President Bush to make the mistake of picking the wrong bureaucrat but only if that bureaucrat has no dubious political history. To reappoint those who served under Clinton showed lack of foresight. If President Bush is re-elected, he needs to de-Clintonize his administration.