MacVicar Discusses Iran Sabotage Report
On last night's "Evening News," correspondent Sheila MacVicar reported that "Iran is continuing to make progress on its expanded efforts to enrich uranium — in spite of covert efforts by U.S. and other allied intelligence agencies to actively sabotage the country's nuclear program."
Because the exclusive story discussed "covert" tactics against Iran's nuclear program, I asked MacVicar if she had concerns that airing it could have national security implications. As I noted yesterday, ABC News came under fire this week for its report on a covert operation to destabilize Iran's government.
"It was made very clear to me that the Iranians are extremely aware of foreign sabotage," MacVicar told Public Eye. "All of the players involved know what's happening, including Iran. Under the circumstances, the Iranians would be very foolish not to. Iran is very sophisticated and has very highly developed intelligence systems. Because of their reliance on the black market, they're aware that they are vulnerable and likely targets."
MacVicar said that she chose to feature the particular example that she did – a 2006 incident involving exploding power supplies – because the Iranian Atomic Energy Agency had already publicly acknowledged it and suggested that the equipment involved had been "manipulated." She said that Iranian officials believe that any and all technical problems could potentially be traced to this type of manipulation, legitimately or otherwise.
"It is the view of many observers that the Iranians are in state of heightened suspiciousness – almost paranoia, as someone said to me," she said.
MacVicar also said that there was information that she kept out of the report "because it wasn't clear to me that the Iranians had reached conclusions." She said she was not convinced that this information met the burden of proof and was reticent to use it because the impact of the operations in question was not clear.
You can watch the report by clicking on the video box.
Video: Because the exclusive story discussed "covert" tactics against Iran's nuclear program, I asked MacVicar if she had concerns that airing it could have national security implications. As I noted yesterday, ABC News came under fire this week for its report on a covert operation to destabilize Iran's government.
"It was made very clear to me that the Iranians are extremely aware of foreign sabotage," MacVicar told Public Eye. "All of the players involved know what's happening, including Iran. Under the circumstances, the Iranians would be very foolish not to. Iran is very sophisticated and has very highly developed intelligence systems. Because of their reliance on the black market, they're aware that they are vulnerable and likely targets."
MacVicar said that she chose to feature the particular example that she did – a 2006 incident involving exploding power supplies – because the Iranian Atomic Energy Agency had already publicly acknowledged it and suggested that the equipment involved had been "manipulated." She said that Iranian officials believe that any and all technical problems could potentially be traced to this type of manipulation, legitimately or otherwise.
"It is the view of many observers that the Iranians are in state of heightened suspiciousness – almost paranoia, as someone said to me," she said.
MacVicar also said that there was information that she kept out of the report "because it wasn't clear to me that the Iranians had reached conclusions." She said she was not convinced that this information met the burden of proof and was reticent to use it because the impact of the operations in question was not clear.
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