http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/04/american-spies.htmlSyrian 'Nuke' Mystery Deepens (Updated)
By Noah Shachtman April 28, 2008 | 6:43:00 PMCategories: Nukes
American spies went out of their way last week, to answer questions about that mysterious nuclear facility that once sat in the Syrian desert. But the spooks' presentation to Congress seems to have raised nearly as a whole heap of new issues, even as it put others to bed.
The question that's coming up the most is: Why now? American and Israeli spies have had clues of Syria and North Korea cooperating to build a nuclear reactor since 1997. Satellite images show the so-called "Al Kibar" facility under construction in 2003. Why wait so long to take the reactor out?
"I think the administration believes it will help them get to a deal with North Korea," Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN's "Late Edition."
Gary Samore, with Council on Foreign Relations, comes to a similar conclusion:
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-04-28-voa54.cfmAlleged Syria-North Korea Nuclear Cooperation Raises Questions
By Gary Thomas
Washington
28 April 2008
U.S. intelligence officials last week outlined details of what they said was North Korean nuclear assistance to Syria. Syria has denied U.S. allegations that it was running a covert nuclear weapons program or that it was getting help from Pyongyang. As VOA correspondent Gary Thomas reports, the timing of the revelations has raised questions about the motivation for their release.
Alleged North Korean nuclear cooperation with Syria is not exactly fresh news. After a secret Israeli air strike destroyed a facility in Syria last September, Andrew Semmel, the top State Department official for nonproliferation, said publicly that the United States was concerned about nuclear activity in Syria and suggested Damascus was getting help from Pyongyang. When speaking to reporters off the record other officials were even more specific.
US officials said this Syrian nuclear reactor built with North Korean help, which was hit by Israeli strike
However, intelligence officials only briefed members of Congress in detail about it last week. And, in a surprising move for the usually secret intelligence community, they also briefed selected members of the media.
Semmel, now retired, says he is puzzled that it took so long to reveal the information since Congress has been pressing for details of Syria's activity since the Israeli raid.
"Congress has been pressing the administration,and others have been, too, to come clean on this or to come out some more with a little bit more information. And at this point in time maybe the feeling was, 'maybe' is the key word here, maybe the feeling was that somehow or another the intelligence community and others could not keep the lid on it any more, so they wanted to go out, I'm putting a positive spin on this, by the way, so there would be no major distortions of what actually happened, he said."
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN28474535RPT-ANALYSIS-Congressional calculus triggered Syria disclosures
'NO CHOICE'
"Congress has been asking for the specifics on Syria before they would agree to any sanctions lifting," said Mike Green, a former Bush administration Asia specialist now at the CSIS think tank. "The administration had no choice but to brief."
The U.S. Congress holds sway over whether to provide money to the administration to dismantle North Korean nuclear sites and it could also block removing the country from the U.S. terrorism list.
Heritage Foundation Korea expert Bruce Klingner said the intelligence briefings partly reflected the administration's realization that they were otherwise "unlikely to get funding" to dismantle North Korea's nuclear facility at Yongbyon.
Several people familiar with the matter say Washington has devised a face-saving formula for North Korea under which it would produce a declaration of its plutonium program, but would simply "acknowledge" U.S. concerns about its suspected uranium enrichment and proliferation activities, including in Syria.
The formula, first disclosed two weeks ago, appears to have brought Washington closer to securing the declaration but it has been criticized by a number of Bush's fellow Republicans.
Several analysts and congressional aides rejected media reports that this week's briefings were prompted by U.S. officials who oppose the talks with North Korea and hope to scuttle them.
"The crunch point here was linked to progress in the six-party talks, rather than an effort to undermine the six-party talks," said a congressional aide who asked not to be named.