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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| CIA compromised its own intel assets in Iran |
| 2006-04-14 |
| Botched CIA operations may have handed Iran vital information on how to make nuclear weapons and betrayed the identities of America's spies in the country, according to a new book on US intelligence. The latest account of American intelligence failures includes details of how the CIA allegedly tried to slip Teheran some Russian designs for an atomic bomb, which contained hidden flaws that would have made any device inoperable. The Iranians, however, were tipped off by the very agent sent to give them the documents. In a separate incident, the book claims a CIA officer mistakenly sent an Iranian agent - who turned out to be a double agent - information that was used to arrest virtually all of the agency's spies in Iran. The claims are made in State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration, by James Risen, the New York Times reporter who also revealed that the National Security Agency had tapped phone calls and e-mails of some US citizens without warrants. The CIA says the book contains "serious inaccuracies", but has not elaborated. The claims about Iran are startling because of the scale of bungling that Mr Risen claims has taken place. He highlights one operation, known as Merlin, in February 2000, when the CIA allegedly sent a Soviet-era defector to Vienna where, posing an unemployed scientist selling nuclear secrets, he was supposed to contact the Iranians. The Russian scientist, who had previously worked as an engineer on the Soviet nuclear weapons programme, was given Soviet documents for a key bomb component. These had been provided by another Russian defector and then doctored by the CIA. Had they used the documents, "instead of a mushroom cloud the Iranian scientists would witness a disappointing fizzle", Mr Risen writes. But the Russian scientist immediately spotted the flaw and told his CIA handlers: "This isn't right." When told to go ahead with his mission, he apparently feared the Iranians would find the errors and decided to include a letter that alerted them to the flaws in the designs. Mr Risen describes Operation Merlin as "one of the most reckless operations in the modern history of the CIA, one that may have helped put nuclear weapons in the hands of a charter member of what President George W Bush has called the 'axis of evil' ". Mr Risen also claims that in 2004 a CIA officer mistakenly sent one of its agents some information that was used by Iran to "roll up" the CIA espionage network in Iran. "It left the CIA virtually blind in Iran, unable to provide any significant intelligence on one of the critical issues facing the United States - whether Teheran was about to go nuclear," Mr Risen writes. Such tales of incompetence coming after the fiasco over Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, will inevitably raise fresh doubts about the accuracy of Western intelligence reports that claim Iran is bent on building nuclear weapons. Iran insists it seeks nuclear power only to generate electricity and has steadily dismantled its agreement with European countries to freeze activities linked to its uranium enrichment programme. Western countries have so far failed to muster enough political support to report Iran to the United Nations Security Council for breaches of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. European governments have given detailed intelligence briefings to Russian, Chinese, Indian and South African officials in an attempt to persuade them to back American claims that Iran has obtained designs for nuclear warheads, which could be fitted to its range of missiles. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #10 Snens, I can sympathize with your dad, but the other half of "secret successes" is "public failures," and the latter in this case are PARTICULARLY ugly. |
| Posted by: Edward Yee 2006-04-14 13:55 |
| #9 The loyal members of the CIA tend to express great surprise and shock whenever a mole is discovered. |
| Posted by: Snuns Thromp1484 2006-04-14 11:35 |
| #8 Selection bias is an issue, but it's also true that part of what makes a successful CIA operation a success is actually keeping it a secret. Sort of a sore spot with my father-in-law, a retired CIA lifer. |
| Posted by: Snens Elmaimp2539 2006-04-14 10:25 |
| #7 The CIA was initially a branch off the military, and had integrity. Since then, politics has crept in and now the integrity level is low. May I remind you that it was the CIA that made a 'film' of TWA 800 blowing up because of an electrical short. When hundreds of eyewitnesses saw a missle hit the plane. Yet another Slick Willy cover-his-ass effort ? One wonders if the CIA was involved in removing the evidence of the murders of Vincent Foster and Ron Brown. With the CIA and the Park Police, Slick Willy could have done a lot more damage than he did. Those sex breaks kept him busy. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-04-14 09:46 |
| #6 CIA can't really talk about its successes, I suppose. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2006-04-14 09:35 |
| #5 why oh why do the CIA always come out looking like a bunch of fools? 1. They are 2. Who has an incentive to make them look otherwise? |
| Posted by: Thomoper Slailing8858 2006-04-14 09:33 |
| #4 We tend to read only about the fiascos, and not the successes of the CIA. It's called selection bias. |
| Posted by: Perfesser 2006-04-14 09:28 |
| #3 I know we don't hear the good news about them, but why oh why do the CIA always come out looking like a bunch of fools? Something wrong with their vetting process? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-04-14 08:39 |
| #2 I didn't read that account of Merlin as a hit against Bush - I read it as saying Bush inherited a true mess. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-04-14 07:35 |
| #1 Call me crazy but W. didn't assume the office until Jan 2001. Oh sorry - that doesn't fit the script. Maybe he does criticize Slick Willy but by reading the title one would not immediately get that. No surprise. |
| Posted by: Bangkok Billy 2006-04-14 05:17 |