Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) George Tenet bid farewell to employees of the spy agency at a ceremony on Thursday after seven years in its top position.

Tenet tendered his resignation early June and will officially resign Saturday, making him the second longest-serving CIA director after the legendary Allen Dulles.

"In the end, the American people will weigh and assess our record, where intelligence has done well and where we have fallen short," Tenet told some 1,500 CIA employees who were present at the ceremony at its headquarters.

FBI Director Robert Mueller and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were among those present at the event, which was closed to the media so that undercover operatives could attend. Tenet's speech was released.

Tenet's departure comes as US intelligence officials are cautioning the public that al Qaeda may be seeking to launch a large-scale strike on the United States in an effort to influence the November elections, and a number of reports on the Sept. 11 attacks and prewar Iraq intelligence are to be released.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to issue a report on Friday that is expected to sharply criticize the agency's misjudgment of the threat posed by Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction before the war.

(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2004)