President Vladimir V. Putin said foreign spies in Russia had been "showing heightened interest in classified economic information," the latest Kremlin expression of its worry that it has been under a growing threat from outside intelligence services.
Holding court from his regular table at a restaurant near the intelligence headquarters, Mr. Sharif said he soon planned to open a separate campaign office outside the intelligence building.
Security concerns also limit analysts' ability to consult experts outside the intelligence community.
As the Bush administration winds to a close, the current director of national intelligence (DNI), Mike McConnell, wants to start filling top jobs at foreign stations with intelligence officers from outside of the CIA.
Agents from the intelligence service picked her up from her home outside Tehran and took her for questioning, Ms. Soltani said.
In one video published on YouTube, students behind the gates of Tehran University were shown holding placards and chanting while being filmed from outside by plain-clothed intelligence agents for identification purposes.
The participants, who include leading Republican strategists from outside groups, routinely trade political intelligence and sometimes make joint fund-raising trips.
From the outside the house is gorgeous.
The report was so controversial that many outside analysts expected that the intelligence community would be forced to revise and repudiate the estimate after new evidence emerged about Iran's program, notably from the United Nations' inspectors.
But it will take considerable assistance from outside with logistics, communications and intelligence to enable these troops to do anything more than simply garrison towns.
