IRAN IS BACK – AT 7:22 P.M. ET:  Back in the news, that is.  Suddenly there are a number of stories about the boys from Tehran, what they're up to, and what we're (presumably) doing about it.  From ABC:

An award-winning Iranian nuclear scientist, who disappeared last year under mysterious circumstances, has defected to the CIA and been resettled in the United States, according to people briefed on the operation by intelligence officials.

The officials were said to have termed the defection of the scientist, Shahram Amiri, "an intelligence coup" in the continuing CIA operation to spy on and undermine Iran's nuclear program.

COMMENT:  Word of caution.  Intelligence agencies are trained to be very careful about defectors.  This may well be an intelligence coup.  We hope it is.  But a defector 1) can have ulterior motives, 2) tell interrogators what they want to hear, in return for a good deal, 3) may not know as much as he claims, 4) may have defected because of a grudge, and might give distorted information to get back at someone, or 4) can be a double agent.

But let's hope for the best with this dude.

March 30, 2010