Former National Security Council official Flynt Leverett and former Foreign Service officer Hillary Mann sought to publish an opinion piece in the New York Times regarding Iranian-American relations. All current and former CIA employees who want to present information to the public must have their material cleared beforehand. Following these long-standing rules, Leverett and Mann submitted their article to the CIA�s Publication Review Board to ensure that it did not contain classified information. When it came back, nearly one-third of the article�s paragraphs had deletions, with some being quite extensive.

Leverett and Mann claim the White House demanded the excision of the material for political, rather than security reasons. Their article argues for a �grand bargain� with Iran, which would mean enacting some form of diplomatic action contrary to current policy. The Bush administration did not want the history between America and Iran emphasized as they have continually resisted pressure to renew contact. Many Mideast analysts have said that diplomacy with Iran is necessary to avoid future military action.

�There is no plausible claim that this is confidential stuff,� Mr. Leverett said. �There�s no detail in these paragraphs that has not already been written about by me and other officials.� In fact, the censored opinion piece was based off of an approved 32-page paper Leverett had published just two weeks before called �Dealing With Tehran�. The paper was then summarized for publication in the New York Times by Leverett and his wife. �They don�t want us to say how many opportunities this administration has missed to put relations with Iran on a better track,� Leverett said.

The former government officials wrote in their article, “In a democracy, transparency in government has to be honored and protected. To classify information for reasons other than the safety and security of the United States and its interests is a violation of these principles.” Leverett says he knows how to write sensitive articles without triggering CIA reviewers to black out information. He noted that he�s submitted over 20 articles for approval, several long studies, and a book on Syria without a single word needing to be changed.

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What was censored from the article? Leverett claims the two main issues deleted were Iran’s cooperation with the US in Afghanistan after 9/11, and Iran’s offer to sit down and negotiate a “grand bargain”, which was rejected outright by the White House. You can read his full 32-page paper titled “Dealing With Tehran“, or my brief summary titled “Iran So Far Away“. I’m sure his analysis is much deeper than mine, but I also know most of you don’t have time to read a 32-page paper.