Brian Ross of ABC News

ABC News is coming under heavy criticism for its exclusive report revealing a purported CIA covert operation designed to destabilize the government of Iran.

Brian Ross of ABC reported last night:

The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a "nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions.

"Isn't this type of reporting TREASON?!" asks Robert Lipps in an ABC thread receiving hundreds of comments. "Where's the responsibility for the good of the country? This is disgusting! What are you thinking?"

Dawn Mansfield wrote: "Why, if it is covert, are you airing it and telling the Iranians what we are doing? Do you want more war and more killings of Americans? Let them do their job's and keep your mouths shut."

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ABC's report has also caught the attention of at least two Republicans running for president.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said he was "shocked."

"The reporting has the potential of jeopardizing our national security," Romney said. "To put it quite plainly, it has the potential of affecting human life, we may never know."

Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado called it "absolutely irresponsible for any media to publish a story like this."

"When foreign governments and terrorist groups can simply watch the news to find out about potential U.S. intelligence operations, we have a problem on our hands."

Tancredo will ask the attorney general to open a criminal probe into the source of the leak and the network's decision to disclose the information, as well as call for congressional hearings.

"I just hope Democrats and the media show as much interest in this as they did over Valerie Plame," he said.

ABC News has responded to the criticism, saying in a statement:

"In the six days since we first contacted the CIA and the White House, at no time did they indicate that broadcasting this report would jeopardize lives or operations on the ground. ABC News management gave them the repeated opportunity to make whatever objection they wanted to regarding our report. They chose not to."

ABC did receive some supportive comments on its thread, including: