CIA Shuttered Spy Ring Infiltrating Iranian Militants -LAT

WASHINGTON — In its scramble to marshal resources for gathering intelligence on al-Qaida and Iraq, the CIA shut down a spy ring it was operating in South America that was providing a rare glimpse into the activities of Iranian militants and intelligence networks, according to a former agency official involved in the operation.

The program, which had taken five years to assemble, , had succeeded to the point that several of the CIA's informants had been invited to take part in religious training inside Iran, the former official said.

But the operation was dismantled by CIA officials who were skeptical of its value, the former official said, and were under growing pressure to redeploy agency funds and personnel from South America and other regions seen as less critical than the nation's expanding war fronts.

Iran's intelligence service has been active in South America for decades, officials said. The decision to pull the plug on the CIA-run program came in 2002, after President Bush had declared Iran part of an "axis of evil" along with Iraq and North Korea, but before confronting Iran over its nuclear program and its support for terrorist activities became a top priority for the administration.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-irancia27mar27,0,929362.story?coll=la-home-headlines

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