NEGROPONTE ON IRAN & THE BOMB

There's been a lot of wingnut noise recently about the threat from Iran and I'd like to share this comment from then-DNI director Negroponte from April 20, 2006:

MR. SALANT: How far along is Iran in its nuclear program? Are you troubled about the recent announcements? And has the intelligence community analyzed the impact of military action against Iran's nuclear facilities?

MR. NEGROPONTE: The developments in Iran are -- clearly they're troublesome: the fact that they had an undeclared nuclear program for a number of years until they were discovered; the fact that they have resumed enrichment activities and have now got these 164 centrifuges spinning, with a view to enriching uranium to a level that is -- can be used as fissile material for a nuclear weapon.

I think there's also concern about the new leadership of Iran, particularly President Ahmadinejad and some of the extreme statements that he has made during the course of -- the tenure of his presidency. So there's a whole host of reasons to be concerned about the behavior of Iran at this particular point in time.

But I would say and I would add that by the same token, our assessment at the moment is that even though we believe that Iran is determined to acquire or obtain a nuclear weapon, that we believe that it is still a number of years off before they are likely to have enough fissile material to assemble into or to put into a nuclear weapon, perhaps into the next decade, so that I think it's important that this issue be kept in perspective.