The Government May Soon Send This Reporter to Jail. Here Are the Embarrassing Secrets He Exposed.

[G_j]

http://m.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/08/james-risen-operation-merlin-jail-cia

The Government May Soon Send This Reporter to Jail. Here Are the Embarrassing Secrets He Exposed.

—Alex Park on Tue. August 19, 2014 6:00 AM PDT


The Obama administration has fought a years-long court battle to force longtime New York Times national security correspondent James Risen to reveal the source for a story in his 2006 book State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration. Risen may soon serve jail time for refusing to out his source. The fight has drawn attention to Obama's less-than-stellar track record on press freedom—in a recent interview, Risen called the president "the greatest enemy to press freedom in a generation." But lost in the ruckus are the details of what Risen revealed. Here's what has the government so upset.

In State of War, Risen revealed a secret CIA operation, code-named Merlin, that was intended to undermine the Iranian nuclear program. The plan—originally approved by president Bill Clinton, but later embraced by George W. Bush—was to pass flawed plans for a trigger system for a nuclear weapon to Iran in the hopes of derailing the country's nuclear program. "It was one of the greatest engineering secrets in the world," Risen wrote in State of War, "providing the solution to one of a handful of problems that separated nuclear powers such as the United States and Russia from the rogue countries like Iran that were desperate to join the nuclear club but had so far fallen short."

The flaws in the trigger system were supposed to be so well hidden that the blueprints would lead Iranian scientists down the wrong path for years. But Merlin's frontman, a Russian nuclear scientist and defector then on the CIA's payroll, spotted the flaws almost immediately. On the day of the handoff in Vienna in winter 2000, the Russian, not wanting to burn a bridge with the Iranians, included an apologetic note with his delivery, explaining that the design had some problems. Shortly after receiving the plans, one member of the Iranian mission changed his travel plans and flew back to Tehran, presumably with the blueprints—and the note—in hand. Merlin did not wreck the Iranian nuclear program—in fact, Risen wrote, the operation could have accelerated it.

In a sworn affidavit filed in 2011, and in a recently rejected appeal to the US Supreme Court, Risen has argued that his reporting served the public good. Published at a time when military action in Iran seemed possible, State of Fear revealed how much of the effort to gather information on Iran's nuclear capability was not just shoddy but dangerous—even, in the case of Operation Merlin, helping Iran get closer to building a nuclear weapon.

..more..

[Mnemosyne]

1. Is there anything right in this country anymore? It's like opposite day everyday. nt

[AngryAmish]

2. There is a sign on the President's desk:

It says "The Buck Stops somewhere with the career prosecutors, whom I have complete control over, in theory, so I don't have to confront the Deep State."

The sign is a bit larger than Harry S.'s, but Harry S. dropped 2 big ones.

I find my government repugnant.

[Mnemosyne]

5. Sadly, I do also. I had had such hopes when I voted the first time, 1976.

First Democrat in the family. Didn't go over well, went over worse when I voiced my opinion of Raygun, then even worse after Poppy & jr.

Now no family left but my daughter and grandsons, along with a just couple great friends. Thank the universe they are all good human beings.

I weep for what we once believed was our country, but more for finding out it was all a facade. Smoke and mirrors...

I won't quit, but sure am tired, hell, just plain exhausted from caring and trying.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. A detailed summary of the book is available for free download

in pdf.
http://www.tburg.k12.ny.us/hsking/Apgov/State%20of%20War.pdf

[G_j]

4. thank you