Government

CIA Scrambling After Spies Reportedly Outed in Lebanon

WASHINGTON (AP) — The CIA’s operations in Lebanon have been badly damaged after Hezbollah identified and captured a number of U.S. spies recently, current and former U.S. officials told The Associated Press. The intelligence debacle is particularly troubling because the CIA saw it coming.

Hezbollah’s longtime leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, boasted on television in June that he had rooted out at least two CIA spies who had infiltrated the ranks of Hezbollah, which the U.S. considers a terrorist group closely allied with Iran. Though the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon officially denied the accusation, current and former officials concede that it happened and the damage has spread even further.

In recent months, CIA officials have secretly been scrambling to protect their remaining spies – foreign assets or agents working for the agency – before Hezbollah can find them.

To be sure, some deaths are to be expected in shadowy spy wars. It’s an extremely risky business and people get killed. But the damage to the agency’s spy network in Lebanon has been greater than usual, several former and current U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about security matters.

The Lebanon crisis is the latest mishap involving CIA counterintelligence, the undermining or manipulating of the enemy’s ability to gather information. Former CIA officials have said that once-essential skill has been eroded as the agency shifted from outmaneuvering rival spy agencies to fighting terrorists. In the rush for immediate results, former officers say, tradecraft has suffered.

The most recent high-profile example was the suicide bomber who posed as an informant and killed seven CIA employees and wounded six others in Khost, Afghanistan in December 2009.

Last year, then-CIA director Leon Panetta said the agency had to maintain “a greater awareness of counterintelligence.” But eight months later, Nasrallah let the world know he had bested the CIA, demonstrating that the agency still struggles with this critical aspect of spying and sending a message to those who would betray Hezbollah.

The CIA was well aware the spies were vulnerable in Lebanon. CIA officials were warned, including the chief of the unit that supervises Hezbollah operations from CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., and the head of counterintelligence. It remains unclear whether anyone has been or will be held accountable in the wake of this counterintelligence disaster or whether the incident will affect the CIA’s ability to recruit assets in Lebanon.

In response to AP’s questions about what happened in Lebanon, a U.S. official said Hezbollah is recognized as a complicated enemy responsible for killing more Americans than any other terrorist group before September 2001. The agency does not underestimate the organization, the official said.

The CIA’s toughest adversaries, like Hezbollah and Iran, have for years been improving their ability to hunt spies, relying on patience and guile to exploit counterintelligence holes.

In 2007, for instance, when Ali-Reza Asgari, a brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of Iran, disappeared in Turkey, it was assumed that he was either killed or defected. In response, the Iranian government began a painstaking review of foreign travel by its citizens, particularly to places like Turkey where Iranians don’t need a visa and could meet with foreign intelligence services.

It didn’t take long, a Western intelligence official told the AP, before the U.S., Britain and Israel began losing contact with some of their Iranian spies.

The State Department last year described Hezbollah as “the most technically capable terrorist group in the world,” and the Defense Department estimates it receives between $100 million and $200 million per year in funding from Iran.

Backed by Iran, Hezbollah has built a professional counterintelligence apparatus that Nasrallah – whom the U.S. government designated an international terrorist a decade ago – proudly describes as the “spy combat unit.” U.S. intelligence officials believe the unit, which is considered formidable and ruthless, went operational in about 2004.

Using the latest commercial software, Nasrallah’s spy-hunters unit began methodically searching for spies in Hezbollah’s midst. To find them, U.S. officials said, Hezbollah examined cellphone data looking for anomalies. The analysis identified cellphones that, for instance, were used rarely or always from specific locations and only for a short period of time. Then it came down to old-fashioned, shoe-leather detective work: Who in that area had information that might be worth selling to the enemy?

The effort took years but eventually Hezbollah, and later the Lebanese government, began making arrests. By one estimate, 100 Israeli assets were apprehended as the news made headlines across the region in 2009. Some of those suspected Israeli spies worked for telecommunications companies and served in the military.

Back at CIA headquarters, the arrests alarmed senior officials. The agency prepared a study on its own vulnerabilities, U.S. officials said, and the results proved to be prescient.

The analysis concluded that the CIA was susceptible to the same analysis that had compromised the Israelis, the officials said.

CIA managers were instructed to be extra careful about handling sources in Lebanon. A U.S. official said recommendations were issued to counter the potential problem.

But it’s unclear what preventive measures were taken by the Hezbollah unit chief or the officer in charge of the Beirut station. Former officials say the Hezbollah unit chief is no stranger to the necessity of counterintelligence and knew the risks. The unit chief has worked overseas in hostile environments like Afghanistan and played an important role in the capture of a top terrorist while stationed in the Persian Gulf region after the attacks of 9/11.

“We’ve lost a lot of people in Beirut over the years, so everyone should know the drill,” said a former Middle East case officer familiar with the situation.

But whatever actions the CIA took, they were not enough. Like the Israelis, bad tradecraft doomed these CIA assets and the agency ultimately failed to protect them, an official said. In some instances, CIA officers fell into predictable patterns when meeting their sources, the official said.

This allowed Hezbollah to identify assets and case officers and unravel at least part of the CIA’s spy network in Lebanon. There was also a reluctance to share cases and some files were put in “restricted handling.” The designation severely limits the number of people who know the identity of the source but also reduces the number of experts who could spot problems that might lead to their discovery, officials said.

Nasrallah’s televised announcement in June was followed by finger-pointing among departments inside the CIA as the spy agency tried figure out what went wrong and contain the damage.

The fate of these CIA assets is unknown. Hezbollah treats spies differently, said Matthew Levitt, a counterterrorism and intelligence expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Studies who’s writing a book about the terrorist organization

“It all depends on who these guys were and what they have to say,” Levitt said. “Hezbollah has disappeared people before. Others they have kept around.”

Who’s responsible for the mess in Lebanon? It’s not clear. The chief of Hezbollah operations at CIA headquarters continues to run the unit that also focuses on Iranians and Palestinians. The CIA’s top counterintelligence officer, who was one of the most senior women in the clandestine service, recently retired after approximately five years in the job. She is credited with some important cases, including the recent arrests of Russian spies who had been living in the U.S. for years.

Officials said the woman was succeeded by a more experienced operations officer. That officer has held important posts in Moscow, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Balkans, important frontlines of the agency’s spy wars with foreign intelligence services and terrorist organizations.

Comments (47)

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  • dmerwin
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 1:43pm

    Lots of scrambling now, but nary a word when our elected officials do the same thing.

    Report Post » dmerwin  
  • Arc
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 1:38pm

    Rashid Kahlidi, Palestinian Operative for Arafat’s PLO. VERY close ties with Obama

    CIA problems in Lebanon????? You gotta be kiddin me……….but Kahlidi is a Ivy League professor and his wife Mona operates the ARAB-AMERICAN ACTION NETWORK ( see Woods Fund Grant to Mona.)
    Surely you can’t suggest there is a leak in the Intelligence apparatus………there simply cannot be a leak of intelligence primarily because all the intelligence is in the Ivy League halls of academia……..don’t believe it eh?……just ask them…..they’ll tell you the average man cannot rule himself, it always takes an arrogant, self righteous, indignant ingrate to accomplish that……really?????

    Report Post » Arc  
  • Tyler520
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 12:28pm

    This is, undoubtedly, the Obama Administration’s pound of flesh in recompense to the Muslim world

    Report Post »  
  • mllyjul
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 12:26pm

    Wow Smackdown33 gets his info from WIKIPEDIA? That explains part of his abject stupidity.

    Report Post »  
    • smackdown33
      Posted on November 21, 2011 at 1:07pm

      Mllyjul, when one can not attack the facts, they attack the source. I’ve seen nothing from you refuting the facts. One doesn’t have to like Einstein to prove his science factually true.

      Report Post »  
  • wewantchillywilly
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 12:26pm

    this has state department written all over it. they are political varment and will do anything to cover the obama admin. ass.

    corrupt all across the board. we are being run by the ACLU.

    Report Post »  
  • Diego Roswell
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 11:23am

    Leon Penetta, a Obama political appointee, now director of the CIA. Need I say more?

    Report Post » Diego Roswell  
    • mllyjul
      Posted on November 21, 2011 at 12:07pm

      Yeah, absolutely no mention that perhaps they were outed by one of the many Muslims we now have installed in ALL LEVELS OF U.S. Government. Hmmmmm?

      Report Post »  
  • chips1
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 11:23am

    Why don’t they just take away Obummers Blackberry? That should eliminate most of it.

    Report Post »  
  • Bobby D
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:55am

    My $$ bets colin powell and richard armitage outed these CIA Operatives. After all they certainly have the experience—bumbling the hoax outting of mrs. wilson!!

    Report Post »  
  • garyM
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:50am

    We will probably not hear anything about this on FOX. I can’t believe they have dug up the Natalie Wood case to stay away from telling us about how the OWS protesters are destroying property, killing people and causing trouble! Also a about government corruption!

    Report Post »  
    • DDD
      Posted on November 21, 2011 at 12:25pm

      Fox hasn’t “dug up” the Wood case. Have you recently watched any television? It’s on all news (even local) and all channels. And as far as the OWS coverage, Fox has had great, extensive coverage of the real OWS activity. You need to watch more tv.

      Report Post »  
  • ares338
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:41am

    If we‘ve read about this in the media then it’s assured the CIA has all bases covered. Their business is gathering information, disinformation and interrogation and all sorts of shadow operations. You will never know the truth about anything they do or have ever done unless it’s to their benefit. No use in being all breathless and hand wringing.

    Report Post » ares338  
  • 666Sucks
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:37am

    Obama has been flooding our government agency’s with anti American spies, this reeks of Obama treason! Obama makes the Trojan horse look like I child’s prank. We so deserve what we are abut to get!

    Report Post » 666Sucks  
  • 4-The-Truth
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:35am

    These obnoxious loud adds have to go.

    Report Post » 4-The-Truth  
    • Stoic one
      Posted on November 21, 2011 at 11:26am

      There are spam/ad blockers available, or try a different browser. I use Google’s Chrome most of the time, along with Mozilla’s Firefox to good effect.

      Report Post » Stoic one  
  • ares338
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:32am

    Spies?….spies?….we got no stinking spies! We deny any knowledge of the afforementioned assets…er…spies that aren’t ours.

    Report Post » ares338  
  • paulusmaximus
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:30am

    Leave it to politicians to call it compromised,their dead their families will probably never know how or why! I wouldn’t even consider being part of clandestine operations with the polecats we have in Washington now.

    Report Post » paulusmaximus  
  • SpankDaMonkey
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:30am

    .
    Spies Reportedly Outed, the GLBT crowd will not be happy about this……….

    Report Post » SpankDaMonkey  
  • NOBALONEY
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:26am

    shhhh. White House operation.

    Report Post » NOBALONEY  
  • dirtypolitics
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:23am

    So who is responsible for this? What, nothing from the Lame Stream Media again?

    Report Post »  
    • smackdown33
      Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:31am

      Who’s responsible, you ask. You are. People like you are. We should not even be engaged in operations that go against our national interests. Israel is against our national interests.

      Report Post »  
  • Exrepublisheep
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:16am

    Smells like Rove.(Again)

    Report Post » Exrepublisheep  
  • Fitz of DE
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:15am

    Thank you Prez nO. You have sold this country out, cleared your CIA records with anothet commie Leon P & he is now wrecking the US Armed Forces.

    Report Post »  
  • netmail
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:14am

    Counter intelligence against America is what this administration excels at. Very sad for the ones hung out to dry. Imagine the paranoia from within…noone is safe and they all know it.

    Report Post »  
  • B-Neil
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:14am

    Darnit! another spy movie. Whatever happened to musicals? CARRY ON McDUFF

    Report Post »  
    • chips1
      Posted on November 21, 2011 at 11:28am

      “Seven Goats For Seven Brothers”. Hows that?

      Report Post »  
    • chips1
      Posted on November 21, 2011 at 11:34am

      OOOHH!!!!! How about “Gypsy Rose-Ellen”????

      Report Post »  
  • smackdown33
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:12am

    What threat does Hezbollah posses against America? We are wasting valuable resources and lives for the pox on humanity called Israel.

    Report Post »  
    • JLGunner
      Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:18am

      You might want to pull your head out of the sand and take a look down the road a piece.

      Report Post » JLGunner  
    • smackdown33
      Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:27am

      Gunner, I have, which is why I am so vocal. I was once like you are now. Reading and study revealed another reality. It brought wisdom.

      Report Post »  
    • lukerw
      Posted on November 21, 2011 at 12:13pm

      And… what Great Revealing do you have to offer… that supports that Hezbollah is not a Terrorist Organization fronting for Iran… that GOD did not give the Land of Israel to the Hebrews… or that the Muslims of Islam, based upon the Koran, do not seek to kill the Jews and Conquer all the people of the World?

      Report Post » lukerw  
  • chasbronson
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:11am

    Executed spy = dead asset.=The obama administration taking care business.

    Report Post »  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:08am

    Right now the only thing I want to know clearly is who in the administration let the information of the agents get to the terrorists? They should be sentenced for treason, and the President removed from office for his part in this as well…it had to have begun with him as did “fast and furious.”

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • lukerw
    Posted on November 21, 2011 at 10:05am

    Hillary… did you do this, too?

    Report Post » lukerw  
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