It is highly doubtful the FBI, on the trail of a terrorist bomb-maker, would ask him to provide samples of the wood from his basement workbench to be tested for traces of explosive materials. He could wipe a little oil and sawdust onto a just-purchased board, hand it in and walk away.

But the International Atomic Energy Agency has just such a scenario in mind – involving Iran and nuclear weapons.

IAEA inspectors will be critical in determining whether Iran is complying with the new pact President Barack Obama claims will keep Tehran from building atomic bombs. Part of the process will be checking sites in Iran where such work is going on.

But recently, the IAEA needed samples of material from Iranian machinery to be tested for traces of radioactive material used in making bombs.

The Iranians were allowed to submit the material themselves. No one outside that country knows whether the samples were legitimate.

No other country has ever been permitted to do that, according to former IAEA Deputy Director General Olli Heinonen.

The late President Ronald Reagan’s “trust but verify” philosophy served us well in non-proliferation deals with the old Soviet Union. Now we have come to the point with Obama is content with trusting the Iranians – and letting them verify.