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Al-Ahed Telegram

Former CIA Officer in Lebanon: Hizbullah Sophisticated Rival, CIA Living in Pods

Former CIA Officer in Lebanon: Hizbullah Sophisticated Rival, CIA Living in Pods
folder_openToday's News access_time12 years ago
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Former CIA officer Robert Baer commenting on a special report aired by al-Manar TV station listing names of CIA stations and agents, said that "the collapse of CIA operations in Lebanon following Hizbullah's unmasking of several CIA spies and the recent naming of the agency's station chief is a serious blow to the US ability to gather intelligence.

Baer said that the CIA would have to undergo a thorough damage assessment exercise before it could consider resuming intelligence-gathering operations in Lebanon.

"With a damage assessment traditionally you just have to close down and figure out why [it happened] and what else is compromised."

In an interview with the Lebanese Daily Star, he said "They also have to consider that the embassy or wherever they were operating from is compromised. It's a laborious time consuming thing that can take years. You got to pull everybody out and put new people under cover and get them to learn Arabic."

The special report which listed the names of the CIA station chief in Beirut, along with his predecessor and three CIA officers as well as the nicknames of five other operators, said "The CIA station in Lebanon through a team of operating officers executes tasks of recruitment that target all colors of the Lebanese spectrum - government employees, security and official individuals, Lebanese politicians, media people, religious people, social people, bankers, medics and academics."
The television report added weight to recent revelations that the CIA was forced to abandon its Lebanon operations after Hizbullah discovered the identity of several spies.

Baer said that the CIA had grown weak on tradecraft and in cultivating human intelligence resources over the past decade which had resulted in costly mistakes being made in Lebanon.

In addition, the officer added "The problem is that they have spent the past 10 years living in pods in Iraq and Afghanistan where they're up against an enemy not nearly as sophisticated as Hizbullah," he said. "Hunting bin Laden from a drone in the tribal areas [of Pakistan] is not classical espionage and you pay the price for it ... The CIA has been turned into an arm of the Pentagon."
Moving on to Iran, the intelligence agent said "There's obviously an espionage war going on against Iran. And to lose an asset in the middle of a war like this, I think it's catastrophic."

Baer, who served in the 80s as a CIA officer in Lebanon, admitted "The world intelligence officials believe that the US and "Israel" are in the throes of a secret intelligence war against Iran. Iran has arrested, at least, 42 CIA agents this year."

Source: news agencies, edited by moqawama.org 


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