“Good question. We aren’t completely sure, but it appears that they do not yet recognize that a worm is behind recent centrifuge failures. What we do know is that the IAEA, in its recent visits, has noted a large number of centrifuge failures at a rate much higher than at any time prior to the summer of 2009. Iran is trying to figure out why this is happening. They are methodically running through the most likely causes of the failures. Since the guys trying to figure this out are all engineers, they think like engineers. They are thinking in the physical realm and tackling the issue from that perspective. We can only hope they continue to think in a conventional manner.”
Aitan thought for a moment and added an afterthought. “By the way, when the Iranians uncover the Myrtus software, which they will inevitably do, there are cruder ways to achieve the same impact on the IR-1 centrifuge. For instance, if we simply disrupt the power source, the centrifuge stops spinning and in the process passes through all of the resonance frequencies as it slows. Likewise, when they are restarted, they pass through the resonance stress points on the way back to the design rotation speed. Myrtus just does this surreptitiously. But my point is that we have, uh, what I will call ‘conventional’ ways of damaging their centrifuges.”
“Even more conventional is to blow that damned site off the face of the earth,” responded Zvi Avner, much to the satisfaction of Raibani.
Aitan wanted to discuss the latest worm that Unit 8200 had come up with and that was now being unleashed in Iran, Syria and other enemy targets by Mossad agents. It was designed to eavesdrop by turning each computer it infected into a big listening device, sending files, logging keystrokes, listening through the microphone and even quietly turning on any built-in video camera. It was so sophisticated that it secretly reprogrammed the wireless card on the computer to interrogate any nearby Bluetooth-enabled cellular phones and to inject any phone it found with a sub-virus, turning the targeted phone into a powerful mobile eavesdropping device for Israel. All of the data were being transmitted back to servers located around the world but controlled by Israel. It was proving so effective that the men and women working on the project had nicknamed it “Tunnel,” since it created a virtual tunnel into the work and personal environment of its victims. The amount of data being generated was so significant that a separate unit of Aman was being created just to collect and analyze everything coming in. The Tunnel software had been written without American involvement, and Aitan wanted to brag about that fact to the other men in the room. But he had agreed with the prime minister to keep this new cyber weapon secret for the time being.
11 — Outside Influence
Prime Minister Cohen checked his watch. He was impatient by nature. “What is the next item on your list?”
Aitan was used to this. The only men in the room who could push back when the prime minister was ready to move on were Raibani and Defense Minister Avner. “The Iranians are continuing their initiator research inside Parchin,” he explained. The Parchin military base, just outside of Tehran, was the center of Iran’s effort to develop a functioning mechanism to create a reliable nuclear implosion. “This is not news, but what is interesting is that we have information that they have started working on an initiator design theory that originated in China.”
Danny Stein had been listening intently to Aitan. He was an amateur physicist and understood nuclear weapon design better than any member of the Kitchen Cabinet with the exception of Yavi Aitan. He knew that a nuclear weapon, designed to be imploded into a critical mass, needed an initiator in the middle of that mass. The initiator starts the nuclear chain reaction by bombarding U-235 atoms with neutrons. The absorption of a neutron by a U-235 atom causes that atom to split, releasing energy in the form of heat, gamma radiation and an additional two or three of its neutrons, which in turn cause, on average, two other nearby U-235 atoms to split.
“What are you saying?” asked Stein. “The Chinese are running their program?”
“No, but they are playing an influential role as they did with the Pakistanis in the nineties.”
“Wait. Are you telling us that the Chinese are helping the Iranians build a bomb?” The question came from Ben Raibani.
“Not directly, no. But Chinese physicists have been making trips to Tehran. They are lecturing at Tehran University and bringing weapons-related research that is still classified in the West.”
Now the prime minister was compelled to grill his minister of intelligence and atomic affairs. “Yavi, neither you nor Levy have mentioned this to me.” Cohen was agitated.
“I’m sorry, sir. This has only come to light in recent weeks. Two Chinese physicists have been lecturing in Tehran this winter. We only learned about these lectures recently. Mossad was able to record a lecture that was given to an invited group of graduate students, professors and scientists about two weeks ago. We also obtained a copy of the handouts. The lecture was on initiator designs and implosion lenses. We didn’t get the handout materials out of Iran until this past weekend. Mossad has now dedicated resources to learn as much as possible about these continuing lectures.”
Cohen leaned over to Raibani. “Remind me to yell at Ami.” It was loud enough for everyone to hear. He was not happy with Amichai Levy, the Director of Mossad. He turned his attention back to Yavi Aitan. “You guys have to keep me better informed. The Americans have to come down on the Chinese for this. If they don’t, we should leak this to the press.” Cohen took a drink from his most recent water bottle. “Well, what is your assessment of all this?”
“In terms of?” asked Aitan.
“In terms of impact on their program. Is this useful information or are the Chinese giving them bullshit?”
“In my opinion, sir, this is a mixture. Some of this, like the Iranians pursuing uranium deuteride research, is probably a waste of their time and resources. But some of the information is useful, especially regarding warhead miniaturization. I think the Chinese are playing both sides here.”
“What else is new? They must have invented the two-step.” The prime minister was angry now.
“Yes,” Aitan continued. “If confronted, they can tell the Americans that they are sending the Iranians down a blind alley. But the Iranians have plenty of physicists who are smart enough to assess the value of what is being discussed. And some of this research is highly valuable for Iran. If we give the Americans the evidence, they can call China out on this issue.”
“I want a full report on this later today from either you or Ami Levy.”
Zvi Avner jumped into the discussion for the first time. “Can we add these two guys to Dead Lead?” The question was to the prime minister. Operation Dead Lead was the internal code name for the targeted assassinations of Iranian physicists and scientists deemed critical to their nuclear program.
“You mean the Chinese physicists?” Avner nodded once. Cohen started to shake his head. A smile formed. “Sometimes, Zvi, you make me feel like I’m a peace activist.” The men in the room laughed and even the defense minister himself could not suppress a smile. “I don’t think now is the time to pick a fight with China.” The prime minister was going to stop his response there, but added a qualification. “If these two Chinese physicists were operating on a rogue basis, let’s say they were now employed by Iran and living in Tehran full time, then I would absolutely consider it. That would put them in the same category as the supergun guy. Ah, what’s his name?”
“Gerald Bull,” responded Yavi Aitan. Bull, an engineer who was an expert at designing and building very long range artillery, had sold his services to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. His work made him an enemy of the State of Israel. He was assassinated in Belgium by Mossad agents in 1990 with the consent of then Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.