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Iran Acknowledges Espionage At Nuclear Facilities
wiredmikey writes "Iran acknowledged Saturday that some personnel at the country's nuclear facilities were lured by promises of money to pass secrets to the West but insisted increased security and worker privileges have put a stop to the spying. The stunning admission by Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi provides the clearest government confirmation that Iran has been fighting espionage at its nuclear facilities."
Iran never tried to deny that they were building nuclear facilities, they just claim that its for nuclear energy and not weapons.
At least we love peace and motherhood!
Iran is being spied upon. And in other news, horoscopes are fake and pie is delicious.
I think you were the target of some espionage....
Zuki: Technical Tomfoolery
It's amazing how little we require of foreign powers these days, in order to believe that they're making some sort of tremendous admission. I blame the Iraqi Information Minister for causing us to set the bar so low.
The stunning admission by Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi provides the clearest government confirmation that Iran has been fighting espionage at its nuclear facilities.
Truly amazing indeed...
You should get +1 Recursive, not -1 Redundant.
Whenever in an argument, remember this.
Seriously. It's no secret that alot of countries are concerned about Iran's nuclear program because (and likely so) they are worried it is for development of nuclear weapons. Of course there are going to be attempts to get information, and part of that is going to be attempting to buy secrets.
"Now, these routes have been blocked. The possibility of information leaking is almost impossible now," Salehi was quoted as saying.
I am frankly amazed that anybody would risk getting caught spying in Iran given that they were going to stone a woman to death because she may or may not have cheated on her husband after he died of natural causes. Or is it a double standard: one woman commits a sex crime and they go all mediaeval on her but one of the guys steals nuclear secrets and gets a slap on the wrist?
http://michaelsmith.id.au
... seems a rather odd word for a news source to use in this context. I probably would have gone with "claims" unless the Washington Post has concrete sources saying that such espionage has occurred.
"Iran Acknowledges Espionage At Nuclear Facilities"
From the headline, I thought Iran had admitted to espionage at foreign nuclear facilities which would have been more newsworthy.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
That can be summed up as MICE:
Money. This is an easy one to understand. People are greedy. You find the right kind of person and toss the right amount of money (surprisingly too much can be as ineffective as too little) at them, they'll do it. Yes it is dangerous but then people get in to drug trafficking all the time and that is dangerous even if you don't take jail in to account. The money makes it attractive to some.
Ideology. Some people disagree with the ideals of their government. Some REALLY disagree. This is true in any nation, but Iran probably has more problems than most. If you've not noticed their government has been having a bit of a popularity problem lately to the point of massive protests and fixed elections. So someone may decide it is worth the risk to help a nation they see as having the proper ideology, a nation that can maybe help against the government in Iran.
Conscience. Most humans have one, even if it sometimes has a rather strange calibration. When someone's conscience is offended enough, they may go and do things like espionage despite the risks. Perhaps some people are really worried, they suspect that the reactors will be used for weapons, and they think the government is crazy enough to use them. They don't want to see their country destroyed, so they try and help other nations to put a stop to the nuclear program.
Ego. Some people will do it just for pure ego, just for the thrill basically. They figure they can get away with it, they are smarter than the government, whatever, just pure ego drives them. Stupid? Sure, but then think about how many cases of pure ego pushing people to do stupid things you've seen.
That is just how it goes. Punishments don't matter. The US managed to spy on the Soviet Union successfully plenty, and the punishment there was death after torture basically (torture wasn't official, just a part of the interrogation basically). Spying has been going on forever, and will probably continue to do so. It is generally dealt with very harshly (death is an extremely common sentence in history) but it still happens.
..if all governments didn't fight espionage at their nuclear facilities, including the US, France, UK, Pakistan, India etc etc
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
But the Iranians insist the nuclear facilities are for research and civil uses. It is against islam to create nuclear weapons!
So why the secrecy? Why not be open about everything and build some trust?
)9TSS
I'm curious about what nuclear innovations the U.S are concerned about gathering intelligence about in Iran's Nuclear program. The likely basis for Iranian Nuclear technology is Russian, but considering the isolation by the global community, Iran's determination to have a nuclear program and the threat of military intervention the pressure on the engineers must be enormous.
Despite Iran's questionable human rights record, when it comes to science and technology we should not discount Iran's achievements. May be the CIA is just curious too and are trying to asses the Iranian program. The irony of all this is would be if Iran came up with the most modern reactor design because it was a state enterprise unconcerned with the cost constraints that govern western designed commercial reactors like the AP-1000.
If, as it is alleged, Iran has built Nuclear facilities underground this alone would be a major step forward in reactor facility design.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
"The KGB had plenty of women that were willing to do anything for "Mother Russia"."
Yep, Anna Chapman even went so far as becoming a realtor, *shudder*.
Many nations intelligence services still use honey-pots, indeed only a couple of weeks ago a Rabbi ruled it was okay for the Israeli intelligence services to do this. Israel & Russia (nee USSR) may have excelled at it for decades, but even the various Western European & North American agencies aren't too averse to a technique that's been proven time & again to work very effectively.
AC, Sanity. Sanity, AC. I hope you two can become acquainted with each other.
With all the spying the government does on Americans, they'd damn well better be spying on our enemies. Isn't this EXACTLY what the CIA and friends are for?
You can say that again... and again... and again.
Whenever in an argument, remember this.
So, they both increased security AND increased work privileges? This could get interpreted so many different way.. I mean, is it a case of the employees now get to eat lunch and if they're extra good not have to get their daily 20 lashes? Are there prostitute dispensing vending machines in the staff lounges? What kind of worker privileges are we talking about?
In terms of technology, no the US has nothing to gain. The latest and greatest in reactor technology is something the US has access to. Some of it was developed there, some developed in the EU, and so on. Nearly all of it is related to making better power generation stations, and as such isn't the sort of thing countries need to keep a tight lid on. The US could have the very latest in reactor tech if they wanted, it is politics that prevent new reactors from being built, not lack of tech.
The concern is that Iran isn't really building the reactor for power, that they are building it to make nuclear weapons. Reactors can have a lot of different uses, depending on their design. One use could be to make plutonium, and that could then be used to make nuclear weapons. That is a real concern to the US given that the government of Iran has been a bit, well, crazy to put it politely and a US ally, Israel, is in easy missile range.
I would presume the US (and perhaps other nations) are interested in what the reactor is really being used for. They want accurate information so they can decide what to do. If it really is just a power facility, then it can be ignored. Nothing wrong with more nuclear energy in the world, we could use it. If it has a hidden agenda, they'd like to know so they can at the very least be ready, and perhaps act on it.
... was the details of the PLC applications being targeted by the Stuxnet worm. Hmmmm.
at their nuclear facilities, just like there are no homosexuals in Iran.
And, there are no homosexuals in Iran either.
espionage acknowledges you
'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
If the Iranians claim the nuclear facilities are for peaceful purposes, then why is there espionage to pass secrets to the west...?
Eternity: will that be smoking, or non-smoking? I Corinthians 6:9-10
Passing nuclear secrets to the West? What's next? Smuggling drugs into Mexico?
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
You wouldn't find it odd if the Pope called a news conference to announce that he is Catholic?
The story is in the announcement, not the underlying fact.
What is the information that needs to be uncovered by spies? US nuclear facilities are already 50 years old, what technology do we need from Iran? the only contention is whether they are getting weapons grade fuel out of their reactors, not something the electric generator plant workers will know about. Next a trojan horse to take down a power plant? What, do they have a laptop running the cooling pump or the control rods? What ridiculous, stupid news. The Washington Post takes this so seriously after a news release from Iran saying they cured AIDS? I call BS on this and all other releases from Iran.
That's not so much a problem now that the Iranian Nuclear Scientists are all living in government supplied "housing" with Armed Guards to protect them from being kidnapped by the CIA.
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