00:00In the world of international espionage, the line between a brilliant trap and a catastrophic failure is razor thin.
00:06But in the case of Operation Maryland, the CIA didn't just cross that line, they erased it.
00:11This is the history of how a plan to sabotage Iran's nuclear program backfired,
00:16handing the regime the keys to the very technology the U.S. stopped.
00:20The year was 2000, but the shadows of this operation stretched all the way into the conflicts of 2026.
00:26The premise was simple. The CIA would use a cutout, a former Russian nuclear scientist, to sell flawed fake nuclear
00:34blueprints to Iranian officials.
00:36The blueprints for a fire set were designed with intentional, subtle errors to lead Iran scientists down a dead-end
00:43path, wasting years and billions.
00:45But there was a fatal flaw in the CIA's plan. The Russian scientist was too smart.
00:50He spotted the errors almost immediately. Fearing the Iranians would realize he was a double agent, he did the unthinkable.
00:58He included a letter with the blueprints, pointing out the flaws and offering his expert help to fix them.
01:04The CIA had essentially delivered a how-to guide on what not to do, along with a nearly complete set
01:10of working schematics.
01:11By the time the CIA realized what had happened, the blueprints were already in the hands of the Iranian leadership.
01:18Intelligence analysts suggest that rather than slowing down the program, Operation Merlin may have accelerated it by years.
01:25The Iranian scientists didn't have to guess. They had a blueprint from a superpower, and they knew exactly which parts
01:31to correct.
01:32When the story was leaked by journalist James Risen, it led to one of the most significant whistleblower trials in
01:38American history.
01:39It exposed a culture of compartmentalization, where the designers weren't allowed to talk to the people executing the mission.
01:46During the 12-day war of 2026, military experts looked back at the precision of the Iranian response and asked,
01:53How did they get this far?
01:55Many point directly back to the ghost of Operation Merlin.
01:58It serves as a haunting reminder of how your own weapon can be turned against you.
02:03When you try to play God with global security, sometimes the glitch isn't in the enemy's code, it's in your
02:07own plan.
02:09Operation Merlin remains a masterclass in how a single human error can rewrite the geopolitical map for decades.
02:15This is a great way of remembrance of the people who have seized the man when you were laid off
02:15and became threatened.
02:15The fact is that it is a great way of dominating disinterpreting the last step that they were looking at.
02:15The goal was good to make money on the ground, and the actor has been set up to the ground,
02:15when you are the man who were the man who was the man who was the chief of the man,
02:15who were the man who was the man who was the man who was the man.
02:15The next step is the man who was the man who had this man who had looked at his career
02:15in the world, and who was the man who had to walk into the man.
02:15That's a great way of getting so much.
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