Spy Who Turned Tide With Libya Is Brought Back (from self-imposed exile)To Target Teheran

Telegraph.co.uk ^ | Filed: 18/06/2006 | Toby Harnden in Washington

[fight_truth_decay]

The American spy who persuaded Libya to renounce its weapons of mass destruction is to return to the Central Intelligence Agency, where he will direct an aggressive drive to recruit informants inside Iran to aid possible negotiations over Teheran's nuclear capability.

Stephen Kappes, a former United States Marines officer who resigned from the CIA after a clash with its then director, Porter Goss, has been brought back from self-imposed exile in London by George W Bush.

Iran will be top of his agenda. "He's a remarkable guy, a talented leader and among the finest officers of his generation," said Gary Berntsen, the CIA's key commander during the invasion of Afghanistan, who has worked for Mr Kappes in the Middle East. "He knows the target [Iran] intimately."

The return to CIA headquarters at Langley, Virginia, of Mr Kappes, 54, has boosted flagging morale at the spy agency. A former CIA station chief in Moscow, he led successful efforts to penetrate the network of A Q Khan, the rogue Pakistani scientist, who supplied Iran and Libya with nuclear know-how.

He will be deputy to Gen Michael Hayden, who took over from Mr Goss and characterised his predecessor's tenure as "amateur hour". Mr Kappes is the first career undercover operative to ascend to this level for more than 30 years.

The CIA's first priority is to gather intelligence from inside Iran about the theocratic regime's nuclear capabilities and intentions, and the locations of its secret weapons sites. Such information would be crucial in the event of direct talks - or in launching military strikes if negotiations collapsed.

Mr Kappes is a Farsi and Russian speaker who, while stationed in Frankfurt in the late 1980s, was in charge of collecting information about Ayatollah Khomeini's regime and debriefing Iranian exiles.

Mr Kappes is understood to have told friends months ago that he favoured direct engagement with Iran, even suggesting that there might be a case for restoring diplomatic relations with the country and reopening the American embassy in Teheran, closed since the 1979 hostage crisis.

Earlier this month, the Bush administration made an about-face by proposing direct talks on the nuclear issue if Teheran suspended uranium enrichment. Mr Kappes would be a likely candidate to lead any such negotiations.

Robert Baer, a former CIA agent handler in the Middle East, said: "The CIA has a terrible track record in Iran. In the late 1980s, they lost all their human resources [informants] after the Iranians got into the mail." More than 30 CIA informants were arrested when the Iranians intercepted and deciphered CIA communications in 1989.

In October 2003, Mr Kappes led a 15-strong American and British team that went into Libya to test an overture by President Muammar Gaddafi, suggesting that he might be willing to give up his weapons of mass destruction. The information gathered by Mr Kappes helped to persuade the Libyans that the West had clear evidence of the military intent of their nuclear programme.

Mr Baer, author of Blow The House Down, a novel about 9/11, said that a similar outcome would be difficult to achieve with Teheran while America had poor intelligence-gathering capability in Iran. "We have to open up a negotiating channel to Iran, if nothing else to figure out what they're thinking."

But Mr Berntsen said he believed that negotiations were unlikely to succeed and military action against Iranian nuclear sites would have to be taken.

[Defiant]

Does this mean that Joe Wilson and the Clintonistas are back in charge?

[fight_truth_decay]

Refresher:December 4th, 2004

"John E. McLaughlin, a 32-year CIA veteran who was acting director for two months this summer until Goss took over, resigned after warning Goss that his top aide, former Capitol Hill staff member Patrick Murray, was treating senior officials disrespectfully and risked widespread resignations, the officials said."

"Yesterday, the agency official who oversees foreign operations, Deputy Director of Operations Stephen R. Kappes, tendered his resignation after a confrontation with Murray. Goss and the White House pleaded with Kappes to reconsider and he agreed to delay his decision until Monday, the officials said."

"Several other senior clandestine service officers are threatening to leave, current and former agency officials said.

[Zeroisanumber]

Does this mean that Joe Wilson and the Clintonistas are back in charge?

I'd put Clinton himself in charge of the CIA if he could post the kind of successes that this guy has.

[Ole Okie]

Probably means that Valerie Plame will be promoted to an important position. Maybe she'll bring Joe with her.

[Defiant]

That's assuming that this British newspaper's report of a personel change at CIA is accurate. The anti-Goss bias is reflective of the old Bush regime at CIA, which just happened to attempt to oust the President of the US in the last election, among other covert efforts against the elected leader of the country.

[Zeroisanumber]

That's assuming that this British newspaper's report of a personel change at CIA is accurate. The anti-Goss bias is reflective of the old Bush regime at CIA, which just happened to attempt to oust the President of the US in the last election, among other covert efforts against the elected leader of the country.

From FTD post #3: "Deputy Director of Operations Stephen R. Kappes, tendered his resignation after a confrontation with Murray. Goss and the White House pleaded with Kappes to reconsider..."

Seems like Kappes had and still has the confidence of Director Goss and the administration.

[Defiant]

Uh, Goss is long gone, a victim of bureaucratic infighting with the NID, and a stab in the back from Bush, if you believe sources in DC.

In any event, this guy may well be a great spy, and he may be personally responsible for turning Libya as the article says. No mention of the Iraq War's implied threat in Qadaffi's decision, but, hey, they're Brits and what can you do, they're like CNN all the time, and that's in the conservative papers. It may be good news that he is back at CIA, but the point is, you have to read this stuff critically, and when you see Goss forced out and articles like this lauding the old hands at the CIA, and calling Goss "amateur hour" you can read into it "agenda" and then try to decipher what the agenda is. Lefties at CIA are back in charge and feeding the MSM what they want to print. I'll reserve my judgment on this guy.

[RCNOVA]

Kappas resigned rather than fire a very good officer for political reasons. Kappas is the furthest thing from Joe Wilson and the Clintonistas you will find in the CIA. The kind of political decision that led to Joe Wilson's trip to the Nigeria are the last thing he would do.

[Atchafalaya]

Is anyone in charge of the CIA and do they know who they work for??

[Atchafalaya]

Thanks for Qadaffi; what have you done for us lately?

[Southack]

"Robert Baer, a former CIA agent handler in the Middle East, said: "The CIA has a terrible track record in Iran. In the late 1980s, they lost all their human resources [informants] after the Iranians got into the mail." More than 30 CIA informants were arrested when the Iranians intercepted and deciphered CIA communications in 1989."

OK, please stay with me as this is important.

One of the things that Free Republic started out doing was analyzing the "slant" or spin or propaganda buried in news articles (circa 1998).

It needs to be done with the above. Note the Agent's name, Baer. Note the date that he claims: 1989.

He is telling the world that the CIA spy network inside Iran was exposed and rolled up in 1989, President GHWB's watch (i.e. pre-Clinton).

...And he's lying out of his a$$.

It happened in 1998 when President Clinton was freaked out by India's surprise nuclear test (he ordered all of our Iranian agents to report everything that they had immediately...which led to a communications surge large enough for Iranian counter-intel to nab our guys en masse).

Here's the real story, but notice that there is propaganda even in this article that "absolves" (last quoted sentence) the Clinton Administration and includes a date "range" that could apply to GHWB instead of just to WJC: http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/CIA-debacle-in-Iran-cost-spies-lives/2005/02/13/1108229853474.html

The setback was first outlined by former Pentagon adviser Richard Perle on February 2 in testimony before the House Intelligence Committee. Mr Perle criticised US intelligence capabilities and cited the crackdown on sources in Iran as an example of failures that have beset US spying in the Middle East.

He referred to the "terrible setback that we suffered in Iran a few years ago when in a display of unbelievable, careless management, we put pressure on agents operating in Iran to report with greater frequency and didn't provide improved communications". When the CIA's sources stepped up their reporting, "the Iranian intelligence authorities quickly saw the surge in traffic and, as I understand it, virtually our entire network in Iran was wiped out", he said.

Former CIA officials confirmed portions of Mr Perle's account and provided additional details. But they said the incident occurred in the late 1980s or early 1990s and that it was not clear that the informers were exposed because of any pressure from the agency.

Now, remember the date claimed in the propaganda in the original article for this thread? 1989.

Why do the CIA hacks cite 1989? Two reasons: the first President Bush was in Office then, and the real date was 1998. It was in the second week of May, 1998 when India surprised the CIA by conducting 3 nuclear tests. By citing 1989, they can claim that either they or a reporter thansposed the last two numbers of the year (yes, CIA hacks are this petty/conniving).

That's when the Clinton Administration ordered the data dump from all of our Iranian sources (WJC didn't want to be surprised by an Iranian nuclear test next), and that data dump is what led to the collapse of our network there because the Iranians aren't fools and they were able to catch on with so many clues in front of them.

OK. Thank you for bearing with me. There are a lot of details above and most people just don't read or care to comprehend more than one detail at a time (e.g. headliners), but the above details are actually important enough to wade into.

The lie told by Baer **will** be professionally repeated in the near future. Clintonistas are attempting to re-write History here.

They are counting on apathy and inertia on your part to let their spin win.

[Defiant]

As I said, he may well be a great spy. In the military, it is possible you might get crappy officers, and in the CIA you might get bosses you don't like, and if you are that good at your job, you might want to find a way to keep doing it, if you get satisfaction from stopping terrorist attacks against the US.

[Defiant]

That is exactly the kind of critical thinking I am talking about above. Thank you for this post.

[Southack]

"Does this mean that Joe Wilson and the Clintonistas are back in charge?"

Bite...your...tongue.

Kappes worked with **DICK MEADOWS** in Frankfurt.

Either you know the name or else you've got some serious googling to do tonight. Then you'll know.

[onyx]

You can't miss this!

[RCNOVA]

He is telling the world that the CIA spy network inside Iran was exposed and rolled up in 1989, President GHWB's watch (i.e. pre-Clinton). ...And he's lying out of his a$$.

No, he's not lying. You may be referring to two different events. In 1989 a lot of Iranian agents were wrapped up due to sloppy tradecraft.

[Peach]

Very, very good analysis and a good memory here Southack. I'll have to start an Iran file and add your post to it.

[operation clinton cleanup]

Iran will be top of his agenda. "He's a remarkable guy, a talented leader and among the finest officers of his generation," said Gary Berntsen, the CIA's key commander during the invasion of Afghanistan, who has worked for Mr Kappes in the Middle East. "He knows the target [Iran] intimately."

But Mr Berntsen said he believed that negotiations were unlikely to succeed and military action against Iranian nuclear sites would have to be taken.

So, was he brought back for negotiations or targeting information?

[coconutt2000]

Probably means that Valerie Plame will be promoted to an important position. Maybe she'll bring Joe with her.

Ambassador to the Inuit Nation? ;-)