WASHINGTON — 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."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday January 06, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 4 inches; 157 words Type of Material: Correction
Book on CIA -- An article in Wednesday's Section A about the book "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration" by New York Times reporter James Risen reported that the CIA had said the book contained "serious inaccuracies," but a portion of the statement by the agency was omitted. The book reported that the CIA in 2004 had attempted to slip nuclear weapons plans to Iran that contained a crucial flaw. CIA Director of Public Affairs Jennifer Millerwise Dyck in the statement questioned the book's reliance on anonymous sources and said additionally: "It is most alarming that the author discloses information that he believes to be ongoing intelligence operations, including actions as critical as stopping dangerous nations from acquiring nuclear weapons. Setting aside whether what he wrote is accurate or inaccurate, it demonstrates an unfathomable and sad disregard for U.S. national security and those who take life-threatening risks to ensure it."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday January 21, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 1 inches; 72 words Type of Material: Correction
Book on CIA -- A Jan. 4 article in Section A about the book "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration" by New York Times reporter James Risen reported that the CIA in 2004 had sent Tehran top-secret bomb designs with a hidden flaw, which U.S. officials hoped would doom any weapon made from them. The book said the clandestine CIA effort took place in 2000.
The clandestine CIA effort was just one of many alleged intelligence failures during the Bush administration, according to the book.
Risen also cites intelligence gaffes that fueled the Bush administration's case for war against Saddam Hussein, spawned a culture of torture throughout the U.S. military and encouraged the rise of heroin cultivation and trafficking in postwar Afghanistan.
Even before the book's release Tuesday, its main revelation -- that President Bush authorized a secret effort by another intelligence outfit, the National Security Agency, to eavesdrop on unsuspecting Americans without court-approved warrants -- had created a storm of controversy when it was reported last month in the New York Times in an article coauthored by Risen.
In the book, Risen says he based his accounts on interviews with dozens of intelligence officials who, while unnamed, had proved reliable in the past.
Bush has confirmed the existence of the program, but condemned the newspaper for the December report and for its use of confidential sources.
The CIA added its own criticism Tuesday, saying the book contains "serious inaccuracies."
The NSA domestic spying controversy is at the heart of an intensifying debate over whether the president has overstepped his authority in fighting the U.S.-declared war on terrorism by not adequately consulting or allowing oversight from Congress and the courts.
The Justice Department disclosed Friday that it was conducting a criminal investigation to find out who leaked classified details of the domestic spying program.
The book's release date was moved up in the wake of the NSA controversy, and it provides additional details of that domestic spying effort, in which Bush did not seek permission for domestic wiretaps from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
