The Concept of Ethical Obligations

Strayer University PAD 500 Modern Public Administration
Dr. Leah Raby 11.25.13

George Tenet served as the Director if the Central Intelligence Agency from 1997 to 2004 under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. His CIA tenure coincided with the 9/11 terrorists attacks the New York City World Trade Center, Pentagon in Washington, D.C and the American invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq all marked by challenges and controversies for the agency and his leadership(White, 2008). Tenet’s case discussed his decision making roles before and during the invasion of Iraq. It also took a close look at Tenet’s priorities in the agency, the public and of his conscious.
In this paper, I will first identify four cross-coded ethical dilemmas facing former CIA Director George Tenet and assess their impact on his leadership abilities. Secondly, analyze four ways in which Tenet addressed the prioritization of ethical concerns. Then, I will identify and explain four strategies used in competing ethical obligation in relation to the many intergovernmental organizations that overlapped his office. I will also elaborate on four relevant notions for designing ethical maps for defining and prioritizing ethical obligations. Finally, I will research and cite at least four peer-reviewed academic sources.
Ethics is defined as moral principles that govern a person's or group's behavior. Tenet was faced with many cross-coded ethical dilemmas. The first dilemma that he was faced with was honesty. During his time as CIA agent he was lacking the proper conduct towards others because he was not being honest. Tenet had a bad habit of too often telling people what they wanted to hear, not what was needed to hear (Risen 2006). This had an impact on his leadership ability because he was trying to please all parties instead of stepping back. He worried about political consequences rather than speaking truth to power and asking the hard questions that needed answers (White, 2008). As a leader and wanting to gain the trust of those who work with and for you, honesty is the best policy to avoid all confusion.
The second dilemma Tenet faced was trust. Tenet accepted the role as the go between for Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Tenant’s role was more diplomat than chief spymaster, which made insiders “distinctly uncomfortable” (Posner1998: Tenet 2007). Tenet believed that he was the one entity that both sides could trust (Tenet, 2007). He failed being trustworthy because he knew the information given was false and preceded with the information the Government provided. Tenet only confessed to knowing this information after it was released publically (Bamford, 2005). As a leader in the eye of the public withholding information until being forced to accept the blame is not trustworthy in my opinion. This had an impact on his leadership ability because after a Washington Post reporter wrote ominously that “politicization of intelligence estimates continues to flourish under Tenet’s leadership... We all have reason for grave concern” (Eddington,1999). This impacts his leadership ability because no one can rely on a person who is withholding valuable information. Everything that he does would now be in question. Tenet also faced loyalty as a dilemma. Tenet chose to become part of President Bush’s inner circle. If the President wanted him in his inner circle, then he must follow orders and join (White, 2008). Tenet’s loyalty to the president and his inner circle was greater than his loyalty to his agency’s analysis and, ultimately, his loyalty to the truth and his responsibility to have the truth heard (White, 2008). This impacted his leadership ability because he would remain loyal to the inner circle oppose to his agency. Tenet placed the blame on the intelligence community, but it was his job to make sure that people were aware of the truth and he failed to do so. Had Tenet relied more on loyalty to his agency and not he inner circle he would have been trusted more.
Finally, Tenet was also faced with an ethical dilemma which ties with his loyalty dilemma. He worked closely with George Bush, by being placed in the inner circle. If Tenet was not working closely with the president then he could have carried out his normal duties. I believe that he was more concerned with trying to please the inner circle oppose to doing what he was hired to do. “You’re supposed to provide objective assessments and analysis” (Goldberg, 2007). During the Iraq war build up, he no longer served primarily as an honest broker of hard intelligence but instead allowed himself to be swept up in the politics of the day (White, 2008). Tenet was accused of helping the administration use intelligence, by justifying decisions that were already made. His job was to assist with decision making.
There were four ways in which Tenet addressed the prioritization of ethical concerns. The first way believing that the CIA did not make the policy, they implemented it (Tenet, 2007). He saw the agency’s role as that of an honest broker that avoided direct involvement in foreign policy making. The second way that he addressed prioritization of ethical concerns was a truth confession. The confession was given during an interview upon his resignation from the Agency. Since there were some who lacked trust in his leadership, announcing the truth and actions of the past events during the interview was a way to gain some trusts from the agency again (Warner, 2004) although he was resigning. Tenet also addressed prioritization by implementing the "reengineering" of the intelligence community, revitalizing its troubled Directorate of Operations, or clandestine service, and upgrading its counterintelligence capabilities (Smith, 1997). Finally, Tenet reshaped the CIA during his tenure from being an organization that certainly served the president, but also served the rest of the U.S. government (Scheuer, 2006). Considering there were many problems prior to him taking over the position. There were budget cuts; employee’s being released from the agency and lack of guidance.
There were four strategies used in competing ethical obligation in relation to the many intergovernmental organizations that overlapped his office. The first obligation is to the public interest or general welfare. In my opinion Tenet wanted to impress the public, therefore he withheld information that was later discovered that affected the general welfare, the war. Self-obligation, Tenet needed to be true to himself. He was not doing this at times based on his loyalty to the inner circle and not the agency. Those in the agency knew him first and supported his decisions before being moved up in ranking. Obligation to law is the third obligation; Tenet had many choices to make but failed to expand on the truth until it was too late. The final obligation was obligation to humanity or the word, Tenet agreed with information because he was forced to do so, not because of his actual knowledge of situations (Waldo, 1980).
I will now elaborate on four relevant notions for designing ethical maps for defining and prioritizing ethical obligations. First, it would be useful to have an instrument to guide through the historical dimensions of ethical problems in public administration. Both as a part of that inquiry and independently, what do we know about the rise and growth of administrative morality, of notions of stewardship, duty and obligations, reciprocal or unilateral (Waldo, 1980)? There was a guide provided in my opinion. Tenent was advised that there were many issues within the agency prior to obtaining his position. Second, it would be useful to have instruments provided by the social sciences derived from a survey of them. This is a survey to determine what the several social sciences have to say about ethical matters, either directly or indirectly (Waldo, 1980). Those who were in the agency should have been allowed to give feedback that would be used to determine if ethical measures were being used during the duration of Tenet’s time with the agency. Third, ethics as a self-aware enterprise, together with the philosophic matrices from which differing ethical theories are derived, needs to be searched and ordered for the purposes of ethical analysis and judgment in public administration. Ethics has little attended to proper behavior in a large scale organization (Waldo, 1980). In my opinion, ethics should have played a massive role in the agency. Fourth, religion also needs to be surveyed with the object of determining what instruments of navigation it can provide (Waldo, 1980)? In my opinion there were no religion based decisions during Tenet’s time with the agency.
In conclusion, I will research and cite at least four peer-reviewed academic sources. Larry Stevens provided the following link: http://www.aspanet.org/public/ASPA/Resources/Code_of_Ethics/ASPA/Resources/Code_of_Ethics/Code_of_Ethics1.aspx?hkey=acd40318-a945-4ffc-ba7b-18e037b1a858. This link provides eight codes from the American Society for Public Administration. It also advances the science, art, and practice of public administration. Felicia Moore provided the following link: http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=1322866. This link provides the CIA interrogation techniques. I found this website helpful because it elaborated on six enhanced interrogation techniques that were used in 2002. Kristina Taylor Reynolds provided the following link: depts.washington.edu/bioethx/topics/ethics.html. This link provides information for those who would like decipher what is ethical according to a committee or a program. It also allows a person to determine when an ethical consultant should be contacted. This could have been useful to some in the agency that worked with Tenet when they did not agree with his actions. Matt Gibbs, from PSC, provided the following link: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CEkQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsites.psu.edu%2Fmattgibbs%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F4648%2F2013%2F09%2FGibbs.M_GWA-2-Peer_Review.docx&ei=nDT4UuesEYjM0AGOmIDQBA&usg=AFQjCNEBzB9dEw8eJjVXjqTrVMHUn5o9iA . This link provided passages that broke down Tenet scenarios while in the agency. I found this interesting because it enlightened me on the government during Tenet’s time with the agency.

Reference:
Stillman, Richard J. (2010). Public Administration Concepts and Cases. Mason, OH: Thomas Wadsworth Cengage Leaning.
Smith, Jeffery (1997). By Way of Hill retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A99121-1997Mar20.html
Scheuer (2006). CIA Director George Tenets Resignation Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/government_programs-jan-june04-tenet_6-3/
Warner (2004). CIA Director George Tenets Resignation Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/government_programs-jan-june04-tenet_6-3/