"THUNDEROUS SURPRISE" FOR U.S. INTELLIGENCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000200020075-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 23, 2007
• Sequence Number: 75
• Publication Date: June 22, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ARTLcLE ApPEAR2t
ON FAG-F-:_
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT
22 June 1981
""flb-11fla'aus Surprise" for U.S.1311e]ii nt
Israel's assault on an Iraqi nuclear
facility left U.S. officials wondering
about America's intelligence capability
in the critical Middle East.
Even with its extensive intelligence
assets in the region? the Pentagon said
that news of the June 7 raid arrived as
a"thunderous surprise." The first word
came from the Israelis themselves, in
an announcement to the U.S. Embassy
in Tel Aviv 4 hours and 10 minutes
after the jets struck Baghdad.
U.S. officials refuse to call the inci-
dent an intelligence failure. They note
that Israel historically has maintained
rigid 'military security and went to
great lengths to protect the secrecy of
the 1,200-mile mission.
Still, analysts admit that Israel's abili-
ty to keep the attack under wraps was
remarkable, given the possibilities for
U.S. detection. -
The Israeli jets evidently were never
spotted by the four AWACS radar
planes that the U.S. flies over Saudi
Arabia. One Pentagon official said the
sophisticated radar did not pick up
one single, solitary blip."
How did this happen? Experts say
that Israel's warplanes, in streaking low
over the Saudi Arabian and Iraqi des-
erts, flew beneath the AWACS's nor-
mal radar beams. Also, the AWACS ra-
dar was aimed east over the Persian
Gulf-hundreds of miles from the at-
tackers' flight path. Some- experts sus-
pect that Israel may even have had
knowledge of- the AWACS schedule
and flight paths-and planned its at-
tack accordingly.
America's supersensitive satellites
were no help, either. Analysts explain
that the spy-in-the-sky devices, though.
able to observe tiny stationary targets,
remain virtually blind to such moving
objects as a jet in flight. The satellites'
intelligence-gathering activities, said
one defense expert, are good at mea-
suring damage after an attack but not
in warning of one.
traffic-a task sometimes carried out
by U.S. ships in the Mediterranean. Is-
raeli pilots reportedly spoke Arabic to
confuse eavesdroppers. In addition,
guidance systems on Israel's American-
made jets are so advanced that the raid
could have been directed with little
direct voice communication.
Moscow insisted that the Pentagon
was not as ignorant as it claimed. Said
the Soviet news agency Tass: "Israel's
arrogant aggression was not taken
without Washington's sanction."
Some intelligence experts agreed
that close U.S. ties with Israel were a
factor-but not in the manner that the
Kremlin suggested. These analysts
note that Washington relies heavily on
Israel's intelligence service, Mossad,
for secret data on the Mideast-an ar-
rangement with obvious liri-itations in
keeping track of Israel itself.
"You don't spy on your friends very
easily," said former CIA Director
Stanfield Turner. "You trust them to
keep you informed. This time they evi-
dently did not." .. 0
Israel also apparently frustrated any
U.S.. effort to decipher its military radio
Approved For Release 2007/03/23: CIA-RDP99-00498R0002 -