CIA "espionage disaster": Error tipped Iran to CIA Agents

Several U.S. agents in Iran were rounded up after the CIA mistakenly revealed clues to their identities to a covert source who turned out to be a double agent.

In a clumsy effort to sabotage Iran's nuclear program, the CIA in 2004 intentionally handed Tehran some top-secret bomb designs laced with a hidden flaw that U.S. officials hoped would doom any weapon made from them, according to a new book about the U.S. intelligence agency.

But the Iranians were tipped to the scheme by the Russian defector hired by the CIA to deliver the plans and may have gleaned scientific information useful for designing a bomb, writes New York Times reporter James Risen in "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration."

According to the book, the CIA effort to sabotage Iran's nuclear effort came on the heels of another massive intelligence failure, in which a CIA officer mistakenly sent an Iranian agent a trove of information that could help identify nearly every one of the spy agency's undercover operatives in Iran.

The Iranian was a double agent who turned over the data to Iranian authorities. They used it to dismantle the CIA's spy network inside the country and arrest or possibly kill an unknown number of U.S. agents, the book says.

CIA Gave Iran Bomb Plans, Book Says
......................
U.S. officials have long maintained that Iran's rulers want to develop nuclear weapons, but Tehran has insisted that it seeks to develop only a civilian nuclear energy program. Whatever the case, the CIA was desperate to counter what it believed was a clandestine nuclear program, and turned to a Russian defector who had once been a nuclear scientist in the former Soviet republics, according to the book.

The book says the CIA worked with the U.S.-based defector to concoct a story about how he was destitute, but in possession of valuable nuclear weapons blueprints that had been secreted out of Russia.

CIA officials had concerns about the man's temperament, Risen says, but sent the defector and the blueprints to Vienna anyway, with orders to hand-deliver them to someone at Tehran's diplomatic mission to the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

www.latimes.com...

I have read this a few times, and I just don't what to say. Perhaps others feel the same.


RESPECT

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[edit on 4/1/2006 by Mirthful Me]

You know this is one of the things that makes me laugh. People say how the CIA is really the one behind all the terorism in the world, and is so horrible, and can do anything, and then we see a story like this come out, where the CIA can't find their *** with both hands, a map, and a flashlight. Thank god we have such a wonderful agency protecting us.

[edit on 1/4/2006 by Zaphod58]

So the CIA being incompetent is proof they have not carried out terrorist acts?

Im starting to think Bush is not a dumb American, but a surprisingly intelligent example of an average American. Maybe the CIA should stick to murdering and butchering what they do best, instead of trying to play with the big boys of intel.

It's funny, ask the CIA about the book and you'll get two responses.

1.) It's all nonsense.

2.) Shame on that traitor of an author for releasing sensitive information.



It can't very well be both, now can it?

I get the sense that this is part of some larger ruse. Am I the only one?

Originally posted by HiddenReality
So the CIA being incompetent is proof they have not carried out terrorist acts?

Im starting to think Bush is not a dumb American, but a surprisingly intelligent example of an average American. Maybe the CIA should stick to murdering and butchering what they do best, instead of trying to play with the big boys of intel.

Well which is it? Are they incompetant, or are they so great that they're capable of carrying out most of the terrorist acts as some people are claiming. You can't have it both ways here.

Originally posted by Zaphod58

Originally posted by HiddenReality
So the CIA being incompetent is proof they have not carried out terrorist acts?

Im starting to think Bush is not a dumb American, but a surprisingly intelligent example of an average American. Maybe the CIA should stick to murdering and butchering what they do best, instead of trying to play with the big boys of intel.

Well which is it? Are they incompetant, or are they so great that they're capable of carrying out most of the terrorist acts as some people are claiming. You can't have it both ways here.

You must remember that the CIA is only one of a whole host of pointless, overlapping, job duplicating agenices in the US. Pleenty more to choose from for your conspiracy theorists.

Maybe there is a conspiracy here? The CIA is a cover!

The NWO/Bilderbergers/Womble Megalomaniacs use it as a bungling front to try and convince the world they couldn't pull off a Coup in Coupland on National Coupland "Start Your Own Coup" day.

Then they secrectly plot behind the scenes with the real agencies of destruction.....

Stumason makes a good point..it's certainly possible.

I just wanted to add that the CIA is not a monolithic organization. They are controlled from the top down, yes, but the various people who make up the agency have minds and opinions of their own.

We saw a lot of fallout recently, a real shake-up at the CIA. A lot of agents and analysts quit over a disagreement on the fundamental purpose of the CIA. Bush and Co., as well as a number of other presidents, have seen the CIA as a support tool for administration policies.

Some of the old timers at the CIA see it differently. If I understand it correctly, some CIA agents/analysts see themselves as a check against presidential corruption and abuse. They don't feel they ought to put themselves and their country in danger to advance the lame-brained schemes of corporately owned politicians.

Just a point that's important to remember. When people say the CIA did this bad thing or that bad thing, I think they're mispeaking. What they should be saying is CIA agents did such and such. That's a more accurate reflection of the dynamic at work, IMO.

Are there corrupt CIA agents? Absolutely. I can't imagine they would be the one human organization in history to avoid corruption entirely. Is the whole agency corrupt and anti-American? Certainly not. That boggles the mind as much as the first possibility.

I won't be surprised if something like this comes out:

"....As part of Bush adminstration effort to convince the international community that Iran has nukes, CIA has sent a dozen nuclear warheads to Iran. Now that the story is leaked by NY times article, Bush wants the nukes back ........."

I get the sense that this is part of some larger ruse. Am I the only one?

I really don't think it's a ruse. the covert source was a double agent. I don't think Iranians would have rushed into killing the agents.


RESPECT

[edit on 5-1-2006 by proprog]

I just read about this story. Its crazy if you ask me. I can see giving them plans about a smaller bomb which isnt really signifigant to gain info but plans that are almost right to build a nuclear bomb is a little different. Ah well...Its the CIA off to save the day... then mess it up that night.

[edit on 17-1-2006 by North Rider]