One interesting nugget came out of the briefing with senior intelligence officials which did not make air for time reasons.  That is often the case on these stories; so much information, not enough time. I, frankly, don’t know how the network people do it, but that IS another story…

We were told that Israel’s decision to strike the Syrian Al-Kibar nuclear reactor in September 2007 was made on its own.  “No green light was given by the U.S. … no one asked for permission and none was given.”

According to senior intelligence officials, Israel saw the Syrian facility “as an existential threat.”

As for North Korea’s motivation, senior intelligence officials said it was cash-driven, not an effort to get nuclear fuel.

While senior intelligence officials were forceful in their conclusions it was a nuclear reactor, it will take time for outside analysts to digest the material and there is certain to be questions raised in the coming days by some foreign nations who may fear similar treatment.  Do you believe the evidence? Especially after WMD? There is clearly more pressure on the intel community to make their case as strongly and as openly as possible now.

Check out this letter that was sent by CIA Director Mike Hayden to CIA employees re: North Korea and Syria.  See the bold sections:

At our town hall meeting in January, I praised the outstanding work of our officers in tackling a very sensitive counter-proliferation issue, one that I could not identify at the time because it was highly compartmented.  As of today, some aspects have been declassified and will be publicly released this afternoon, so I can share with you the highlights of this extraordinary story.

Last spring, we acquired information confirming that a building in eastern Syria was a covert nuclear reactor using North Korean technology.  We had suspected the two nations were cooperating on nuclear technology as early as 2001, and although imagery had revealed the existence of the building, it lacked features associated with a nuclear installation.  The new information included photographs of the interior and exterior that offered our first unambiguous indication that the building was a nuclear reactor.  Moreover, the reactor would have been capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons, was not configured to produce electricity, and was ill-suited for research.

On the morning of 6 September 2007, the reactor was destroyed as it was nearing completion, but before it had been operated or charged with uranium fuel.  Syrian efforts to dismantle the ruined building and remove every trace of the incriminating equipment-largely conducted at night or under tarpaulins for concealment-further underscored Damascus less than benign intent for the facility. A video presentation summarizes our analysis of the Syrian reactor project and North Korean involvement in greater detail.

Our team effort on the Al Kibar reactor is a case study in rigorous analytic tradecraft, skillful human and technical collection, and close collaboration with our Community colleagues and liaison partners.  Our officers put in long hours on this issue for many months, and their hard work paid off by directly advancing our nations security and that of our allies.  To everyone who contributed to this success, my congratulations on a job well done.  

QUESTION: Do you think the pictures are the “Smoking Gun?”