Bush Administration Uses Google For (Un)Intelligence

Words fail me. And I'm not just saying that.

When the State Department recently asked the CIA for names of Iranians who could be sanctioned for their involvement in a clandestine nuclear weapons program, the agency refused, citing a large workload and a desire to protect its sources and tradecraft.

Frustrated, the State Department assigned a junior Foreign Service officer to find the names another way -- by using Google. Those with the most hits under search terms such as "Iran and nuclear," three officials said, became targets for international rebuke Friday when a sanctions resolution circulated at the United Nations.

Turns out that the power of Google isn't that reliable. The CIA doesn't believe none of the 12 men singled out by the CIA has anything to do with Iran's nuclear program. The State Department used Junior Officers, with only a few month experience, to perform the Google searches. Somewhere in here is a joke about monkeys and typewriters.