Tenet has shown himself to be tenacious as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, lasting from Bill Clinton's Democratic administration into that of Republican Bush.

He did not say he would resign after Friday's surprise admission, and Bush said that he retains his confidence in Tenet.

Tenet's statement supported what White House officials have been saying for the past week -- that Bush used the claim in good faith after it had been cleared by the CIA.

"I am responsible for the approval process in my agency," Tenet said, although he did not say that he had personally read the president's State of the Union address before Bush delivered it to Congress and the nation on January 28.

The allegation was used by Bush at the time, as well as the British and Australian governments, to build the case for the US-led war that toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

The US Senate is seeking an investigation of the affair.

It is not the first time the 50-year-old spy chief has been in the hot seat since he took over the helm of the secretive intelligence agency from John Deutch in July 1997.

Tenet has survived many prior spats with Congress and has won praise from some quarters for his bid to rehabilitate the CIA after several high-profile spy scandals and morale problems.

Some in the intelligence community had expected Tenet to resign following the agency's failure to foresee the September 11, 2001, attacks against New York and Washington.

Tenet weathered that storm, bolstered by Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, and went on to garner favor with conservatives as the CIA deployed specialist teams into Afghanistan during the subsequent war that ousted the Taliban militia, but has so far failed to locate al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

The CIA chief has considerable experience in navigating Washington's political waters.

He has worked in both the legislative and executive branches, for Democrats and Republicans.

Before joining the spy agency, as it struggled to redefine its role in the post-Cold War world, Tenet also served as special assistant to the president and senior director for intelligence programs at the National Security Council.

The straight-talking spy master was reappointed CIA chief by Bush in 2001 after originally having been tapped by former Democratic president Bill Clinton.

Like Clinton before him, Bush dispatched Tenet to the Middle East, where he has held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in a bid to establish a ceasefire and nudge the two sides toward peace.

Vince Cannistraro, a former top CIA official and outspoken critic of the intelligence used to justify the war in Iraq, was convinced that Tenet would keep his job.

"He is taking the fall for them, on their behalf," Cannistraro said. "Now they owe him one."

Cannistraro believes that it would be hard for Bush to release Tenet so close to an election and with so many intelligence issues still unresolved.

The son of a a Greek restaurant owner, Tenet is married to A. Stephanie Glakas-Tenet and has one son.

Tenet grew up in Queens, New York, where he worked in his family's diner. He later attended Georgetown University's elite School of Foreign Affairs. He also holds a master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University.

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