New York Times: Defense Secretary Gates Says In Secret Memo That U.S. Lacks A Policy To Thwart Iran From Obtaining Nuclear Weapons

The New York Times reports that several "officials said the highly classified analysis, written in January to President Obama’s national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones, touched off an intense effort inside the Pentagon, the White House and the intelligence agencies to develop new options for Mr. Obama. They include a revised set of military alternatives, still under development, to be considered should diplomacy and sanctions fail to force Iran to change course… Pressed on the administration’s ambiguous phrases until now about how close the United States was willing to allow Iran’s program to proceed, a senior administration official described last week in somewhat clearer terms that there was a line Iran would not be permitted to cross. The official said that the United States would ensure that Iran would not 'acquire a nuclear capability,' a step Tehran could get to well before it developed a sophisticated weapon. 'That includes the ability to have a breakout,' he said, using the term nuclear specialists apply to a country that suddenly renounces the nonproliferation treaty and uses its technology to build a small arsenal… Mr. Gates’s memo appears to reflect concerns in the upper echelons of the Pentagon and the military that the White House did not have a well-prepared series of alternatives in place in case all the diplomatic steps finally failed." Tweet