From CBS News:
We were surprised to hear how far he thinks Iran has come.
Panetta: The consensus is that, if they decided to do it, it would probably take them about a year to be able to produce a bomb and then possibly another one to two years in order to put it on a deliverable vehicle of some sort in order to deliver that weapon.
Of course, Panetta knows more than he tells. Maybe he knows who’s bombing Iranian scientists, why Iran’s missile facility mysteriously blew up or how a computer virus wrecked Iran’s uranium enrichment plant. Judging from the U.S. spy drone that fell in Iran, America and its allies are waging war without sending thousands of troops.
The doomsday plane is laden with secret gear, we can’t show you most of it. It’s so heavy the Air Force refueled it twice in the night sky over the Atlantic. It turns out the lightest thing on board was the heart of the man with a world of worry.
Pelley: How do you launch the nuclear response from this airplane? You pick up this phone?
Panetta: Don’t touch anything Scott. (laugh)
Read the rest of the interview here.