Iran claims to break CIA spy ring, arrests 30
Iran's Intelligence Ministry says it dismantled ‘a complex espionage and sabotage network' and uncovered the identities of 42 operatives [CIA employee case officers] in various countries.
EXTRACT:
The statement alleged that the network was run by CIA agents via U.S. embassies in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Malaysia and sought to “gather information from scientific, research and academic centers … especially in terms of nuclear energy, aerospace and defense industries and biotechnology” as well as on oil and gas pipelines, telecommunications and electricity networks and border controls.
Phi Beta Iota: On the one hand, it would appear that CIA is finally learning how to do global targeting. On the other, it is clear that CIA is still living immunity out of official installations, rather than “cover” and certainly not non-official cover. In our view, the entire US Intelligence Community leadership needs to be flushed, and a fresh start made on the basis of an Open Source Agency (OSA) that addresses 80% of all needs by all those not now served by classified intelligence, *and* validates classified requirements as being both valid and uncollectible by open sources–which the Dutch have been doing since the 1990's.
Reference: 1996 Testimony to Moynihan Commisson
2010: Human Intelligence (HUMINT) Trilogy Updated
Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Intelligence (Lack Of)
