The protesters may be out of Azadi Square, but the effects of last summer's upheaval are still reverberating in Iran. As I've written previously, the significance of the protests wasn't what was happening on the streets, but what was happening behind the scenes. Turns out that internal turmoil in Tehran has also been a boon for Western intelligence gathering efforts:
Iran's political turmoil has prompted a growing number of the country's officials to defect or leak information to the West, creating a new flow of intelligence about its secretive nuclear program, U.S. officials said.
The gains have complicated work on a long-awaited assessment of Iran's nuclear activities, a report that will represent the combined judgment of more than a dozen U.S. spy agencies. The National Intelligence Estimate was due last fall but has been delayed at least twice amid efforts to incorporate information from sources who are still being vetted. [...]
Some of the most significant new material has come from informants, including scientists and others with access to Iran's military programs, who are motivated by antipathy toward the government and its suppression of the opposition movement after a disputed presidential election in June, according to current and former officials in the United States and Europe who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the intelligence gains.
"There is a wealth of information-sharing going on, and it reflects enormous discontent among Iranian technocrats," said a former U.S. government official who until recently was privy to classified reports about intelligence-gathering inside Iran. He said that among senior technocrats in the nuclear program and other fields, "the morale is very low."
While patience isn't a popular, it is essential for dealing with Iran. For all Tehran's bluster, its nuclear and traditional weapons program are faltering. The best course of action is to continue to let our intelligence agencies do what we pay them to do: gather information about the exact specs and location of Iran's nuclear installations and wreak havoc behind the scenes by turning key scientists, diplomats, and members of the security service.
-Evan
Iran's political turmoil has prompted a growing number of the country's officials to defect or leak information to the West, creating a new flow of intelligence about its secretive nuclear program, U.S. officials said.
The gains have complicated work on a long-awaited assessment of Iran's nuclear activities, a report that will represent the combined judgment of more than a dozen U.S. spy agencies. The National Intelligence Estimate was due last fall but has been delayed at least twice amid efforts to incorporate information from sources who are still being vetted. [...]
Some of the most significant new material has come from informants, including scientists and others with access to Iran's military programs, who are motivated by antipathy toward the government and its suppression of the opposition movement after a disputed presidential election in June, according to current and former officials in the United States and Europe who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the intelligence gains.
"There is a wealth of information-sharing going on, and it reflects enormous discontent among Iranian technocrats," said a former U.S. government official who until recently was privy to classified reports about intelligence-gathering inside Iran. He said that among senior technocrats in the nuclear program and other fields, "the morale is very low."
While patience isn't a popular, it is essential for dealing with Iran. For all Tehran's bluster, its nuclear and traditional weapons program are faltering. The best course of action is to continue to let our intelligence agencies do what we pay them to do: gather information about the exact specs and location of Iran's nuclear installations and wreak havoc behind the scenes by turning key scientists, diplomats, and members of the security service.
-Evan
