CI: INVOLVEMENT OF THE IRAQI INTELLIGENCE SERVICE IN IRAQ'S WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION PROGRAMS

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06820383
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: March 8, 2023
• Document Release Date: September 12, 2019
• Case Number: F-2018-02014
• Publication Date: December 26, 2002

Approved for Release: 2019/09/06 C06820383
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Classified By: UNSPECIFIED
Classification Reason: UNSPECIFIED
Declassify On: X1
(S/ SUBJ: CI: INVOLVEMENT OF THE IRAQI
INTELLIGENCE SERVICE IN IRAQ'S WEAPONS OF MASS
DESTRUCTION PROGRAMS
Identifiers:
Dates:
Date Acquired: approximated late Oct-2002
Date Published: 26-Dec-2002 15:15:00
Date Received: 26-Dec-2002 20:15:50
Coverage:
Region: MIDDLEEAST, IRAQ
Publisher:
Agency Acronym: CIA
Office Name. NCS
Warnings: (S CENTRAL
INTELLIGENCE AGENCY INFORMATION REPORT, NOT FINALLY EVALUATED
INTELLIGENCE
(U) CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
(U) INF RMATION REPORT, NOT FINALLY EVALUATED INTELLIGENCE REPORT CLASS S
EC ET
(U) EXCLUSIVE DISSEMINATION TO ADDRESSEES LISTED AT END OF REPORT
NOT
(U) REPORT CLASS SECRE T--
ALL PORTIONS CARRY CLASSIFICATION AND
CONTROLS OF OVERALL DOCUMENT. END OF MESSAGE SECRET.
(S/ 1. AS OF 1999, THE M16 DIRECTORATE OF THE IRAQI INTELLIGENCE
SERVICE (IIS, MUKHABARAT), HEADED BY NU'AMAN 'ALI AL-((TIKRITI)), WAS
RESPONSIBLE FOR TESTING VARIOUS CHEMICALS FOR THE IRAQI MILITARY. M16 WAS
NOT THE ONLY TESTING OFFICE IN IRAQ, BUT IT WAS THE SOLE OFFICE WITHIN IIS TO
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CONDUCT SUCH TESTS. M16'S DUTIES ALSO INCLUDED MONITORING EMPLOYEES AND
ACTING AS A CONDUIT TO THE DIRECTOR OF MILITARY INDUSTRIES. MOST M16
EMPLOYEES HAILED FROM THE AL-TIKRITI TRIBE.
(5/ 2. PRIOR TO THE 1991 GULF WAR, SCIENTISTS AT M16 WORKED WITH A
VARIETY OF CHEMICALS AND CHEMICAL AGENTS AND WEAPONS INCLUDING
CHLORIDANE, DDT, "CS," MUSTARD, THIONYL CHLORIDE, SODIUM CHLORIDE (SIC),
POTASSIUM CYANIDE, AND SARIN. DDT AND CHLORIDANE WERE STORED IN GALLON
BARRELS. CYANIDE WAS KEPT IN 500-GRAM BOTTLES. THIONYL CHLORIDE WAS A
BROWN LIQUID AND STORED IN 2.5-LITER BOTTLES. FROM 1985-1988, THE CHEMICALS
WERE STORED IN A THREE-STOREY HOUSE OWNED BY M-1, WHERE THE "SPECIAL
PRINTER" AND COUNTERFEIT MONEY WERE STORED. HOWEVER, THEY WERE
REMOVED FROM THIS LOCATION WHEN THE REGIME BECAME CONCERNED ABOUT
FLOODING FROM THE TIGRIS RIVER.
(S/ 3. THESE AGENTS WERE FIRST TESTED AT M16 AND SUBSEQUENTLY SENT
FOR PRODUCTION TO VARIOUS MILITARY PRODUCTION FACILITIES, THEN UNDER THE
CONTROL OF HUSAYN KAMIL, SUCH AS THE MUTHANNA STATE ESTABLISHMENT (MSE)
AND AL-QA'QA FOR PRODUCTION. AT LEAST ONE EXPERIMENT INVOLVED TESTING
WHETHER THE PLACEMENT OF CS DUST ON THE SKIN WOULD KILL AN INDIVIDUAL
ONCE WATER WAS ADDED. CHEMICALS WERE SOMETIMES TESTED ON A VARIETY OF
ANIMALS, SUCH AS CATS, DOGS, AND MONKEYS WHICH HAD BEEN PICKED UP AS
STRAYS OFF THE STREET OR AT LOCAL ANIMAL MARKETS.
TESTS INCLUDED PLACING POTASSIUM CHLORIDE (SIC) CRYSTALS ON FISH
SKELETONS AND FEEDING TO CATS. THE CATS WOULD "SCREAM," JUMP ONCE AND DIE.
WHILE THERE WAS NO INDICATION THAT WORK WAS ALSO CONDUCTED ON
BIOLOGICAL AGENTS, M16 WAS EQUIPPED WITH RADIATION DETECTORS.
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(Si4. M16 ALSO CONDUCTED A VARIETY OF OTHER ACTIVITIES INCLUDING THE (b)(3)
TESTING OF MAIL AND FOOD FOR POISONS/CONTAMINATES, EXPLOSIVES DETECTION,
TESTING OF CHEMICALS FOR USE IN ASSASSINATIONS, AND VARIOUS FORENSIC
STUDIES SUCH AS FINGERPRINT ANALYSIS. THE TESTING FOR CHEMICALS FOR USE IN
ASSASSINATIONS WAS CONDUCTED ON BEHALF OF M14, THE IIS DIRECTORATE
RESPONSIBLE FOR ASSASSINATIONS. GIVEN ITS VARIETY OF FUNCTIONS, THE
ACTIVITIES OF M16 WERE DIVIDED BETWEEN THREE DEPARTMENT HEADS WHO, IN
TURN, WERE EACH RESPONSIBLE FOR THREE SUBDIRECTORATES.
(S/ 5. PRIOR TO 1995, IRAQI PRESIDENT ((SADDAM)) HUSAYN OR HIS
PERSONAL SECRETARY 'ABID HAMID ((MAHMUD)) WOULD ISSUE A DIRECTIVE TO KAMIL,
WHO WOULD THEN FORWARD IT TO THE DIRECTOR OF THE IIS THROUGH TO M16. IN
ADDITION TO THE IIS DIRECTOR, AN EGYPTIAN BY THE NAME OF DR. HAMID 'ALI
((MUSTAFA)) WAS ALSO OFTEN INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS. MUSTAFA WAS THE HEAD
OF PLANNING AT M16 AND AN ADVISER TO THE DIRECTOR OF THE IIS AND WAS THUS
HIGHER PLACED THAN MI6'S DIRECTOR. MUSTAFA WAS RESPECTED AND CONSIDERED
IMPORTANT WITHIN M16. FOLLOWING KAMIL'S DEFECTION IN 1995, SADDAM OR
MAHMUD ISSUED DIRECTIVES TO THE DIRECTOR OF THE IIS AND ON TO THE MILITARY
FACTORIES WHICH WERE HEADED BY IIS OFFICERS. SUCH DIRECTIVES WERE
PRIMARILY VERBAL, AT LEAST AT THE MORE SENIOR LEVELS; SADDAM NEVER
ACTUALLY ISSUED WRITTEN AND SIGNED DIRECTIVES TO M16.
(S 6. DURING THE UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL COMMISSION'S (UNSCOM)
TENURE IN IRAQ, THE IIS WAS MADE RESPONSIBLE FOR CONCEALMENT AS IT WAS
SADDAM'S MOST TRUSTED ORGANIZATION. HIDING DOCUMENTS IN THE HOMES OF IIS
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PERSONNEL, AS WELL AS IIS SAFE HOUSES, WAS A COMMON CONCEALMENT
PRACTICE. ANYTHING THAT SADDAM WISHED TO CONCEAL FROM UNSCOM, WHETHER
OR NOT IT WAS RELATED TO WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION (WMD), WAS REMOVED
FROM A PREMISES BEFORE INSPECTION. THIS INCLUDED HARD-COPY DOCUMENTS AS
WELL AS COMPUTER FILES AND SOMETIMES THE COMPUTERS THEMSELVES. IN OTHER
CASES HOWEVER, THE IIS WAS ACTUALLY INSTRUCTED BY SADDAM TO COOPERATE
WITH UNSCOM SO AS TO LIMIT CONFRONTATION. MANY MILITARY FACILITIES WERE
CAPABLE OF PRODUCING MULTIPLE PRODUCTS AND SIMPLY CHANGING THEIR NAMES
AND SWITCHING PRODUCTION TO A LEGITIMATE PRODUCT WHEN UNSCOM
INSPECTIONS WERE NEAR.
(S/ , 7. WHEN AN ENTITY REQUIRED THE PROCUREMENT OF A CERTAIN
PRODUCT, IT FIRST SOUGHT ASSISTANCE FROM ANOTHER DEPARTMENT WHICH HAD A
LEGITIMATE NEED FOR THE PRODUCT. AS SUCH, INDIVIDUALS SIMPLY USED THEIR
PERSONAL CONTACTS WITHIN OTHER INDUSTRIES, BE THEY CIVILIAN OR MILITARY, OR
ASKED THE IIS TO BECOME INVOLVED IF OTHER AVENUES FAILED. THE M19
DIRECTORATE AKA THE COMMERCIAL DIRECTORATE OF THE IIS WAS INVOLVED IN
CREATING PROCUREMENT COMPANIES. THESE COMPANIES WERE MANNED MOSTLY BY
IIS AGENTS, BUT THEIR USE WAS NOT LIMITED TO WMD-RELATED PROCUREMENT. THE
COMPANIES HAD A GENERAL "EMBARGO-BUSTING" ROLE. THE IIS WAS INSTRUCTED BY
SADDAM TO BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL IN ITS DEALINGS AS SADDAM WISHED TO
IMPROVE RELATIONS WITH OTHER COUNTRIES WITH A VIEW TO ENDING THE EMBARGO
AND THUS WANTED ALL DEALS TO APPEAR LEGITIMATE.
(S/ 8. M-16 WAS FORMERLY KNOWN AS M-9 AND WAS AT A FACILITY
ADMINISTERED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL SECURITY (DGS, AL-AMN AL-'AMM).
NADHIM ((KAZAR)), FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE DGS, ESTABLISHED IT TO TORTURE
PEOPLE. KAZAR ALLEGEDLY HAD A POOL OF ACID WHICH HE USED TO DIP PEOPLE IN
AND HAD UNDERGROUND PRISONS FOR TORTURE. ONE FORM OF TORTURE WAS TO
LOCK A PERSON IN A BOX WITH DIMENSIONS THAT FORCED A CROUCHING POSITION.
THE IIS TOOK OVER M16 IN 1983 WHEN IT WAS MOVED TO AL-TATHIR AL-JANAI, SALMAN
PAK. IN 1987, A RADIATION DETECTOR FOUND RADIOACTIVE WASTE AT THE ORIGINAL
DGS SITE.
Collection: HT
Creator:
Agency Acronym: CIA
Office Name: NCS
Description: (U) AS OF 1999, THE M16 DIRECTORATE OF THE IRAQI INTELLIGENCE
SERVICE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR TESTING VARIOUS CHEMICALS FOR THE IRAQI
MILITARY. PRIOR TO THE 1991 GULF WAR, SCIENTISTS AT M16 WORKED WITH A
VARIETY OF CHEMICALS AND CHEMICAL AGENTS AND WEAPONS. THESE AGENTS WERE
FIRST TESTED--INCLUDING EXPERIMENTATION ON ANIMALS--AT M16 AND THEN SENT
FOR PRODUCTION TO MILITARY PRODUCTION FACILITIES SUCH AS MUTHANNA STATE
ESTABLISHMENT AND AL-QA'QA FOR PRODUCTION. M16 ALSO CONDUCTED A VARIETY
OF OTHER ACTIVITIES, INCLUDING THE TESTING OF MAIL AND FOOD FOR
POISONS/CONTAMINATES, EXPLOSIVES DETECTION, TESTING OF CHEMICALS FOR USE
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IN ASSASSINATIONS, AND VARIOUS FORENSIC STUDIES SUCH AS FINGERPRINT
ANALYSIS. DURING THE UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL COMMISSION'S TENURE IN IRAQ, THE
IRAQI INTELLIGENCE SERVICE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR CONCEALMENT OF
DOCUMENTATION, SOME OF WHICH WAS PLACED IN PRIVATE HOMES OF INTELLIGENCE
OFFICERS. M16 USED TO BE KNOWN AS M-9 AND WAS ADMINISTERED BY THE
DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL SECURITY.
Language: en
Precedence: R
Source:
Subject: None
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