Gertz:
Maybe we should be spying on Israel to learn what they learn, if we can't raise our own capabilities???Intel failure in Syria raises questions: Can U.S. monitor proliferation?
U.S. intelligence agencies failed to detect the secret Syrian nuclear facility built with North Korean assistance until the factory was almost complete, according to U.S. officials.
The failure is the latest in a string of intelligence failures and raises questions about whether U.S. intelligence agencies can adequately monitor the spread of weapons of mass destruction, supposedly one of the highest national security priorities for the United States.
In 2003 we failed to be accurate about Iraq, now we are failing again and all these things are critical. Why have heads not been rolling? Why has George Bush ACCEPTED such incompetence?
A senior U.S. intelligence official who briefed reporters on the Syria-North Korea nuclear cooperation stated that the facility located on the Euphrates River near al Kibar had been under surveillance since 2001 and that reports indicated Syrian-North Korean cooperation.
An image that U.S. intelligence officials said shows a Syrian nuclear reactor built with North Korean help. AFP/US Gov.
"We received indications in '05 that the Syrians and North Koreans were involved in a project in the Dayr az Zawr region of eastern Syria, but again, no specific information on the nature or the exact location of the work," the official said, noting that suspicions that the cooperation was "nuclear-related" surfaced in 2003.
Despite the indications, U.S. intelligence did not learn conclusively that the facility was a nuclear reactor plant until the spring of 2007, only months before the facility was to be completed.
Oh and we don't know conclusively about Arak and Natanz, either.
"The information included photographs of the interior and the exterior of the building located in Dayr az Zawr showing key features of the reactor," the official said.
The indications that the reactor would be used for nuclear weapons included a lack of infrastructure to produce electricity.
Does the output of 5400 P2 centrifuges in Iran match up to the electrical production need of the nuclear generating stations now being built?
Are we really so foolish and incompetent?
"Internal photographs of the reactor vessel under construction shows that it's a gas-cooled graphite-moderated reactor similar in technology and configuration to the Yongbyon reactor," the official said.
Israel scored the intelligence coup of getting inside the reactor and the photographs led the Israelis to conduct the Sept. 6 bombing raid that destroyed the facility.
U.S. intelligence agencies were biased against accepting intelligence that Syria was building a nuclear reactor because of the intelligence liaison relationship between the CIA and Syrian intelligence, ties that officials said had come to dominate not just intelligence relations but diplomatic relations as well.
Are we?
7 comments:
Thanks for posting this. I 've been screaming my head off to anyone who will listen... our government doesn't know what the hell is going on.
I've asked this question since the Israeli attack... where else are there remote North Korean reactors being built... how about in South America?
Was this reactor more advanced than the Iranian program? Why have we been making noise about Iran for so long, but not attacking. Why does Israel and the U.S. WARN about Iran, but never once warn about Syria before attacking?
Why does Israel and the U.S. WARN about Iran, but never once warn about Syria before attacking?
Probably because Syria was a convincingly easy solo take down - think distance and number of locations to hit.
Iran, on the other hand is a totally different equation.
Anonymous,
That seems true. However, why bother warning over and over?
If you warn a child over and over you teach them to not heed your warning.
That's what we are doing with Iran.
We ought to just shut our fucking mouths.
"Are we really so foolish and incompetent?"
Yes.
Pastorius - Jews are reknown for documenting their history. Perhaps by repeatedly making public warnings, Israel documents their history in this conflict. We all witness how elastic history is in the anti-semetic and/or muslim/ muslim sympathetic world.
Anonymous,
That's a good point.
However, you know, I think America is set enough to walk softly and carry a big stick.
America (i.e. George Bush) ought to either do something, or shut his fucking mouth already.
I'm really sick of it.
Look at it this way. If the CEO of a company you were invested in kept telling you every year that things are getting worse, but "all options are on the table," after five years (and it has been at least five years that this Iran shit has been going on) you'd say, "WEll, you've been saying that for five years, so what are your fucking options?"
And, you'd fire his ass, right?
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