This morning, I notified the president that I will be stepping aside as director of CIA.

It has been my distinct honour to serve the president, the people of the United States, and the very able men and women of the Central Intelligence Agency.

I am grateful to President Bush for the trust and responsibility he placed in me, and for allowing me the privilege of serving him, and the people of the United States.

When the president asked me to become the last DCI (director of central intelligence), I fully recognised and embraced the challenge of leading this agency through historic change, not just for the CIA, but the entire intelligence community (IC).

It was my desire to lead the CIA - this is where I started my career, and where I always wanted to return.

I am proud of CIA's leadership team. They share a deep dedication to improving the agency's capabilities, and are driven by a complete dedication to mission.

Given the new IC architecture, it was imperative to have a team that worked not as individual directorates, but as one.

They have helped me, and CIA as a whole, in our ongoing inter-agency discussions related to this new architecture.

When I came to CIA in September of 2004, I wanted to accomplish some very specific things, and we have made great strides on all fronts, from our field-forward approach, to welcoming record numbers of new employees who are today receiving better training than ever before.

We have reintegrated support, and improved tradecraft across the board - part of which is keeping our secrets.

We also are reinvigorating and enhancing our analytic capabilities with an even stronger role for alternative analysis.

And, there is no question, that CIA remains the leader of cutting edge research and technology, which enables our security mission.

CIA remains the gold standard. That has been recognised within the new IC structure - CIA is the national HUMINT (human intelligence) manager, the place for all source analysis, the bulwark of our nation's analytic capability, and remains central, from support to our technological advantage.

Over the next few weeks, I will be here to ensure a smooth and professional transition, which is the tradition of our agency, as we welcome the next director of CIA.

During the time of transition, I am fully confident that the men and women of CIA will be solely focused on their critical mission.

The past 18 months have been among the proudest of my five decades in public service.