The CIA wants to protect sources and methods so when the State Department came calling for a list of possible sanction targets they got a chilly reception:
When the State Department recently asked the CIA for names of Iranians who could be sanctioned for their involvement in a clandestine nuclear weapons program, the agency refused, citing a large workload and a desire to protect its sources and tradecraft.
Frustrated, the State Department assigned a junior Foreign Service officer to find the names another way — by using Google. Those with the most hits under search terms such as “Iran and nuclear,” three officials said, became targets for international rebuke Friday when a sanctions resolution circulated at the United Nations.
Normally you’d think this was just another case of government agencies functioning as islands and refusing to cooperate but in this case the CIA actually had little to gain (sanctions? effective? please) and something, who knows how much, to lose. If you’re going to play your hand you want results and nothing on the table, at this time, is going to give us that.
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