...A Brief Assessment of Hizballah and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

GWUMC.edu - HSPI - HSPI Commentary Series ^ | February 23, 2012 | A. Aaron Weisburd

[Cindy]

HSPI Commentary Series

"WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE A-TEAM OF TERRORISM?

A BRIEF ASSESSMENT OF HIZBALLAH AND IRAN’S ISLAMIC REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS"

HSPI Commentary 24 February 23, 2012 by A. Aaron Weisburd

SNIPPET: "Since at least May 2011, the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) - operating through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its affiliated organizations1 – seems to have been engaged in a high-risk, high-profile, and not entirely successful campaign to murder perceived enemies of the régime of Ayatollah Khamenei."

SNIPPET: "Has the world become generally less hospitable to these kinds of operations?

It is possible that the difficulties encountered by the IRGC are at least partly a result not of what they are doing wrong, but what the rest of us are doing right. Global counter-terrorism efforts, while not necessarily designed to thwart covert operations by intelligence agencies, have undoubtedly complicated matters. There is also every reason to believe that the Israeli intelligence community, in partnership with others, has made thwarting these operations a high priority. That said, a number of these plots got to the point of being executed, which is clearly an intelligence failure.

Reckless doesn't mean not dangerous. Quite the opposite. They may fail spectacularly, or be wildly successful, but one thing I believe we can count on: the IRGC will take risks, and will burn as many assets as they have to in order to do what Khamenei wants, and what Khamenei wants is to kill."

[Cindy]

About the author:

“A. Aaron Weisburd has been involved in counterterrorism and intelligence-related activities since 2002, focusing primarily on extremist use of the Internet. He is the founder of watchdog group Internet Haganah, and provides training and related services to the U.S. intelligence community.

He is a recipient of an FBI Director’s Commendation, and is an HSPI Senior Fellow.”