Washington ? CIA Director George Tenet denied on Tuesday Democratic allegations that the Bush administration misrepresented facts about Iraq’s weapons programs to make a case for war.

Pressed by Senate Democrats, Tenet said he had told policy-makers when they were mischaracterizing intelligence. He said, for example, that he had called Vice President Dick Cheney about one discrepancy and planned to call him again to say Cheney had referred to a discredited document in a newspaper interview.

Tenet also made clear that he believes policy-makers are entitled to flexibility in how they interpret and describe intelligence.

“At the end of the day, they make policy judgments and they talk about things differently,” Tenet told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Tenet appeared before the panel to present his annual worldwide threat assessment. He repeated themes he had discussed two weeks earlier before the Senate Intelligence Committee: Although al-Qaida is damaged, the terror network’s anti-American agenda has spread to other groups that threaten the United States.

Tenet also warned that violence in Iraq probably would continue as the July 1 transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis approaches.

But much of the hearing focused on whether Tenet was responsible for publicly correcting officials who make false or misleading statements on intelligence.

Prewar claims about Iraq have become a politically charged issue. It especially heated up after the former chief arms inspector, David Kay, said in January that deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was unlikely to have had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons or an advanced nuclear program before the war last year. President Bush’s main argument for war was an immediate threat posed by illegal Iraqi weapons.

Administration officials say their claims reflected the intelligence available. Democrats insist the administration misrepresented intelligence and disregarded caveats and dissenting opinions to bolster its case for war.

Some of Tuesday’s toughest questioning came from Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who last week criticized Tenet for not coming forward earlier to “set the record straight.”

“You can’t have it both ways, can you, Mr. Tenet?” Kennedy said, contrasting that speech to Tenet’s refusal to describe steps he took to correct statements made by administration officials.

Tenet said, “I’m not going to sit here today and tell you what my interaction was. What I did, what I didn’t do,” Tenet said. “When I believed that someone was misconstruing intelligence, I said something about it. I don’t stand up in public and do it.”

Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., sought to fend off Democrats’ insistence that Tenet monitor and correct the statements of administration officials.

“In the end, he is not their keeper,” he said.