CIA posts Farsi video urging Iranians to share intelligence online

The US Central Intelligence Agency has issued a Farsi language recruitment post on social media platforms X, Instagram, and YouTube on Tuesday, urging Iranian to offer civilian and military intelligence. This is the latest in a series of posts made in several languages, ranging from Farsi, Korean, Russian and Mandarin, to recruit individuals from Iran, Korea, Russia and China and offering secure ways to contact the CIA.

This comes amid US President Donald Trump's mulling over an attack on Iran if the US-Iran talks on Thursday fail to reach a deal. The US has already assembled its largest military force across Europe and the Mediterranean. In his first State of the Union speech on Tuesday, February 24, Trump said he would not allow Iran, the biggest sponsor of terror in the world, to possess nuclear weapons.

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The message from the CIA reads, “Hello. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) can hear your voice and wants to help you. Below is the necessary guidance on how to securely contact us virtually.”

The post accompanies a video detailing a few steps, such as using a disposable device, a VPN to circumvent internet restrictions, using private web browsers, and deleting their internet history to cover their tracks. It also advised that users should use a trusted Virtual Private Network "not headquartered in Russia, Iran or China," or the Tor Network, which encrypts data and hides the user's IP address. Users who contact the agency were asked to share their locations, names, job titles and "access to information or skills of interest to our agency." The post on X has been viewed 3.4 million times, as of Wednesday morning.

However, the agency has not shared details about the new tips or sources that resulted from earlier recruitment videos. Director Ratcliffe suggests that the posts are having an impact. But from outside, it appears the intelligence agency is out of its depth and running a digital campaign for intelligence. This leaves them vulnerable to being entangled in counter-intelligence traps. Since the US has no embassy in Iran, it doesn't have the diplomatic cover for vetting sources in person. It has to rely on local sources such as the Kurdish organisation, as they are the most critical partner for human intelligence. Iran has started to monitor the US-Kurdish relations, and its agency is making it difficult for the CIA to have ground sources to stir up the unrest.