CIA: Iran advanced in nuke program

The Jerusalem Post ^ | 13 November 2005 | By JPOST STAFF AND AP

[Colonial Warrior]

American intelligence believe that Iran has advanced on its march toward development of nuclear weapons, a major US newspaper reported Sunday.

The newspaper The New York Times said that the CIA passed intelligence to the International Atomic Energy Committee that had been recovered from a computer stolen from a top Iranian official. The documents contained descriptions of experiments and blueprints of Iranian nuclear facilities.

The US intelligence agency claimed that this new information was the strongest evidence yet that Iran is trying to develop a compact nuclear warhead to fit atop its lauded Shahab missile, which can reach Israel.

Speaking recently about Iran's nuclear development, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz said that "it can present an existential threat. Iran is determined to obtain nuclear weapons because that is in its national interest. I'm convinced that the level of international pressure that is applied, and that will be applied, can slow down this process, but I doubt it can stop it. The State of Israel ....

[Jimmy Valentine]

Given the CIA's credibility of late (last ten years or so) that picture could be of low income housing.

[Wiz]

ping

[sgtbono2002]

I wouldnt trust the CIA to find out if my feet stink.

[ASA Vet]

MI Ping

I know the CIA is not military, and is an intelligence agency in name only, but there might be some valid info in the post.

[cardinal4]

Is the same CIA that said Iraq's was a slam dunk?

[sono]

A wise man once said, "Trust But Verify."

[thoughtomator]

Better tattoo that report on Dick Durbin's forehead so that the Dems can't deny it while we're in the middle of combat with Iran.

[varon]

What has the CIA gotten right lately?

I think the CIA and Dick Morris have the same batting average ;-)

[tet68]

Perhaps a better question would be, "Is the Iranian
whose computer was stolen, still alive?"

[BIGLOOK]

"The newspaper The New York Times said that the CIA passed intelligence to the International Atomic Energy Committee that had been recovered from a computer stolen from a top Iranian official."


Colossal Idiot Agency

[TomasUSMC]

Iran is trying to develop a compact nuclear warhead

---

Compact nuclear warheads are very old technology. We built the Davy Crocket nuclear warhead that weighed 50 lbs and could be fired from a recoiless rifle back in ....

The W54 warhead used on the Davy Crockett weighed just 51 pounds and was the smallest and lightest fission bomb (implosion type) ever deployed by the United States, with a variable explosive yield of 0.01 kilotons (equivalent to 10 tons of TNT, or two to four times as powerful as the ammonium nitrate bomb which destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995), or 0.02 kilotons-1 kiloton. A 58.6 pound variant?the B54?was used in the Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM), a nuclear land mine deployed in Europe, South Korea, Guam, and the United States from 1964-1989.

The Davy Crockett was designed in the late 1950's primarily for frontline use by the U.S. infantry in Europe against Soviet troop formations. The Davy Crockett, a recoilless launcher, was the third artillery piece deployed, those earlier being a l55mm piece designed to fire a nuclear round and a 280mm mobile piece, commonly called an "atomic cannon." Nuclear-capable ground artillery pieces were gradually replaced by increasingly accurate, nuclear carrying missiles and aircraft.

The weapon system used a spin-stabilized, unguided rocket fired from a recoilless rifle. It's 51-pound nuclear warhead had an explosive yield of 0.18 kilotons (equivalent to 18 tons of TNT, with an added radiation effect). As a secondary design feature, the system could also fire a conventional high-explosive round for other use, such as an anti-tank weapon.

The Davy Crockett's warhead was launched from either a 120-millimeter (M-28) or 155-millimeter (M-29) recoilless rifle. The 155 millimeter version, which became the standard issue, had a maximum range of 2.49 miles and could be fired from either a ground tripod mount or from a specially designed jeep mount. The system was deployed with U.S. Army from 1961 to 1971, and over 2,100 were produced.

So this technology is over half a century old. We need to attack Iran now, before the come up with something like this and smuggle it to the Green Zone.