State department Googles for intelligence on Iran

[Robbien]

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Monday December 11, 2006
Guardian Unlimited

<snip>

A junior foreign service officer, employed at the state department for only a few months and who was given the task of investigating Iranians with possible links to the country's nuclear programme typed "Iran and nuclear" into his browser, the Washington Post reported today.

The officer's initial search turned up more than 100 names, including Iranian diplomats who had defended the country's nuclear enrichment programme or attended meetings at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.

The list was eventually narrowed down to 12 Iranians, who could now be subject to travel bans or curbs on their business dealings under a draft resolution now before the UN. The resolution would freeze the assets of 11 institutions and a dozen individuals suspected of aiding Iran's banned enrichment programme, including the commander of the Revolutionary Guards and the director of Iran's main nuclear energy facility.

The newspaper said the state department adopted the research method after the CIA refused to reveal any names of Iranians involved in the country's weapons programme. The agency claimed that agents on the Iran desk were already overworked and that such a disclosure could compromise its intelligence sources on Iran.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1969797,00.html

[HereSince1628]

1. One agency still not talking to the other?

The bureaucracy has learned nothing. And the CIA is still able to control information and thereby its use to shape policy.

[leveymg]

2. OVP and DOS already outed the CIA Iran program sources. One was named Plame

No wonder they're not talking.

[Barrett808]

3. Yeah, too bad Cheney and Rove blew Brewster Jennings

We might actually know something about Iran's WMD intentions.