A high-placed, knowledgeable source tells us of a surprising entrant into the 2004 presidential sweepstakes: CIA Director George Tenet. The first CIA director to be held over from a previous administration in 28 years, Tenet moves with seamless agility between Democrats and Republicans.

A graduate of Georgetown University, he earned a masters degree from the School of International Affairs at Columbia University, and eventually went on to become the national security legislative assistant to the late Republican Sen. John Heinz of Pennsylvania. He next worked as the staff director for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence under Democratic Senators Patrick Leahy of Vermont and David C. Boren of Oklahoma.

He had not served in either the military or the CIA, but President-elect Bill Clinton tapped him to serve on the national security transition team after which he became National Security Adviser Anthony Lake’s primary intelligence adviser. And when Lake’s nomination to be CIA director was withdrawn, Tenet was selected, taking office on July 11, 1997.

In light of this resume, it is clear that Tenet’s experience is exclusively in the political sphere, making him to the intelligence community what Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was to the foreign service community. Neither had actually served in the field. Both are exceptionally bright and well educated, and both are adept at navigating the dangerous shoals of politics.

Tenet has another quality. He is a charismatic, gifted, witty and dynamic speaker reminiscent of President John F. Kennedy. It is a combination that would prove invaluable on the campaign trail, not to mention in those all-important presidential debates. This would come as a surprise because few people have heard him speak other than to answer intelligence-oriented questions.

What is most significant is the fact that George Tenet is President George Bush’s opposite. Even the president’s friends acknowledge his discomfort with the language, and White House correspondents comment about him being tightly scripted by aides, who always seem to be in fear of him straying. And the president has made much of the fact that he was a “C” student.

So if Tenet were to win the Democratic nomination and run against Mr. Bush in 2004, it would be a campaign between the intellectual and the hail fellow well met. But Tenet is no snob. He carries no aristocratic demeanor. Like Kennedy, his intellect and education are obvious, but not overbearing.

He does have a major liability. The CIA has not received high marks in the wake of Sept. 11, and the CIA-FBI finger-pointing came out into the open, a credit to neither organization. And he could not continue at the CIA once his political intentions became known, a fact that would deprive him of a forum.

Further, in an interesting twist of fate, presidential aspirant Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass, is married to the widow of Tenet’s old boss, Sen. Heinz. Outspoken and exceedingly wealthy, she knows him well and could help him or hurt him, depending upon what her husband decides to do.

Prediction: He won’t run in ’04.