Kevin Chalker, a former CIA clandestine services officer, has spoken publicly for the first time about his role in a classified program that recruited Iranian nuclear scientists to defect to the United States. According to a detailed account published in The New Yorker, Chalker specialized in what the agency calls a "cold pitch" - approaching a target with no prior relationship and making an offer within minutes.

The method, as "Hvylya" reports citing The New Yorker's investigation by David D. Kirkpatrick, worked against the backdrop of Israel's ongoing campaign to assassinate Iranian scientists. Chalker would pose as a researcher, arrange a chance encounter at a conference, then quickly reveal he was from the CIA and present a stark choice: accept a new life in America, or face the near-certain alternative.

Chalker joined the agency's counterproliferation desk in late 2003 and discovered that the Iran nuclear team had barely any field operatives. Almost all of its roughly 200 staff were analysts. Within weeks, he became the most senior case officer available for operations. Despite his lack of Middle Eastern experience, he had language aptitude, a background in judo and boxing, and what supervisors later praised as a natural ability to balance empathy with directional pressure during recruitment conversations.

The threat of assassination did not need to be explicit. Israel had been killing Iranian scientists for years - bombs on motorcycles, poisonous gas, and roadside devices took the lives of at least 18 researchers over two decades. One former agency colleague told The New Yorker that Chalker's interactions with the scientists could almost be considered humanitarian, since he was offering them a way out. Three-quarters of those he approached ultimately agreed to cooperate.

Not everyone accepted. At least two scientists whom Chalker described as hostile immediately reported him to Iranian intelligence, forcing him to race for the airport. One scientist agonized for hours before declining, telling Chalker he would rather risk his own life than endanger his family. Chalker said he believed that those who refused were eventually killed, though he had no direct knowledge of their fates due to the agency's compartmentalization of sensitive operations.

Also read: why Iran's deterrence collapse made nuclear weapons look more attractive to aspiring states.