Uranium

Read Josh Marshall on the uranium hoax. The entire saga is a perfect case study for the difficulties of intelligence work. An implausible narrative is floated to the intelligence agency of one country. The intel services of three other countries pick up on the story without actually doing any new work. The narrative is politically appealing to the leadership of several of the countries, and pressure is (indirectly) applied to produce positive conclusions. The original information is revealed to be false, but by this point the four different agencies are citing each other’s reports as evidence. Rather than simply falling apart, the narrative staggers along for a few years, defended by those who have a vested interest in perpetuating the lie.

Good enough for my American Foreign Policy class. I’ll have to write up a new lecture, though.