For 17 years, the operation remained a secret, too sensitive to even be printed in the internal CIA magazine, Studies in Intelligence.

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During my studies I was heavily interested in Artificial Intelligence, things like neural nets, fuzzy logic, natural language processing.

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This tradition of rivalry is so entrenched in Washington that two blue-ribbon studies of the intelligence world have recently defended its output of overlapping analyses.

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Both of those technologies for boosting memory and intelligence are in very early stages, in small animal studies only, and years (or possibly decades) away from wide use in humans.

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Professor Hume said studies of Spanish and Italian schoolchildren had shown that youngsters who were mildly or moderately deficient in iodine have lower intelligence.

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"Pakistan has accomplished two objectives, " remarked Lt Col Tony Shaffer, who served as an intelligence officer in Afghanistan in 2003, and is now at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies in Washington.

BBC: Pakistan's push for new role in Afghanistan