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Will Israel-U.S. Intelligence Cooperation on Iran Continue?

(New York Times) Julian E. Barnes, Ronen Bergman and Adam Goldman - According to a cable sent this year by the outgoing CIA officer in charge of building spy networks in Iran, America's network of informers had largely been lost to Tehran's counterintelligence operations, which have stymied efforts to rebuild it. Israel has helped fill the breach, officials say, its robust operations in Iran providing the U.S. with streams of reliable intelligence on Iran's nuclear activities, missile programs, and on its support for militias around the region. The U.S. has other sources of information, including electronic eavesdropping by the NSA, but it lacks the in-country spy network Israel has. The two countries' intelligence services have a long history of cooperation and the Trump administration approved or was party to many Israeli operations in its shadow war against Iran. A key goal for Israeli Prime Minister Bennett when he meets with President Biden on Thursday will be to determine whether the Biden administration will continue to support Israel's covert operations against Iran's nuclear program, senior Israeli officials said. "The sharing of intelligence and operational activity between Israel and the United States is one of the most important subjects on the agenda," said Maj.-Gen. Aharon Zeevi Farkash, a former director of Israeli military intelligence. "Israel has developed unique capabilities for intelligence collection in a number of enemy countries, capabilities that the United States was not able to grow on its own and without which its national security would be vulnerable."
2021-08-26 00:00:00
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