Congressional hearing on cause of arrests of CIA people in Lebanon and Iran

Gertz, Geo Strategy Direct:

Members of the House and Senate Select Committees on Intelligence have been briefed on the arrests of at least a dozen CIA operatives in Lebanon. The arrests have badly damaged U.S. monitoring of Iran and its chief proxy, Hizbullah.

It is hard to overestimate the damage,” one official said.

In October, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, flew to Beirut to interview CIA officers. Officials said the visit was meant to determine CIA responsibility for the Hizbullah arrest of key operatives in Iran and Lebanon. Hizbullah members have been appointed to 16 of the 30 ministries in the Lebanese government.

Officials said Hizbullah exploited CIA mistakes to track and identify U.S. operatives in Lebanon. They said that paid Lebanese informants, including Hizbullah members, formed two espionage cells, which were later exposed by double agents. In June, Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah announced the arrest of three suspected CIA informants.

“We were lazy and the CIA is now flying blind against Hizbullah,” a former official told ABC News.

The CIA network in Iran was believed to have been dismantled in May. Congress has been investigating reports that Iranian intelligence discovered CIA communications that conveyed orders to as many as 30 operatives.

[On Nov. 22, a Hizbullah military facility was damaged in an explosion. The facility, located near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, was said to have been a munitions warehouse.]

The House committee was also examining information that the CIA was warned that its network in Lebanon was likely to have been infiltrated by Hizbullah. Officials said Rogers interviewed the CIA chief in Beirut for details.

Between 2007 and 2009, Hizbullah and the Lebanese government reported the arrests of more than 100 Israeli intelligence agents. Many Mossad operatives reportedly planted devices in communications networks of Hizbullah and the Lebanese military.

The CIA monitored the arrests of the Mossad agents but failed to impose sufficient countermeasures. The House and Senate intelligence committees could recommend the dismissal of those in the CIA responsible for the Lebanese network, officials said.