The United States is investigating leaks of high-level US intelligence about Israel’s plans to retaliate against Iran, CNN reported, citing three people familiar with the matter. One of the people familiar with the matter confirmed the authenticity of the documents. A US official told CNN that it was “very alarming”. But, questions are being raised whether the highly classified documents were leaked, or were they leaked deliberately?
The documents, dated October 15 and 16, went viral online yesterday after being posted on Telegram by an account called “Middle East Spectator”. They were classified as top secret documents and had markings indicating that they could only be seen by the United States and its “Five Eyes” allies – Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Leaked documents reveal Israel’s preparations for an attack on Iran. One of the documents, compiled by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, says the plan involves Israel moving munitions around.
According to another document obtained from the National Security Agency, it refers to Israeli Air Force exercises, including air-to-surface missiles, in preparation for an attack on Iran. Being considered divinely.
A US official said the investigative team was looking into who had access to the alleged Pentagon documents. The Pentagon and US intelligence agencies, as well as the FBI, will begin an investigation into the incident. The FBI declined to comment.
The leak comes at a sensitive moment in US-Israeli relations, and is bound to anger the Israelis, who were preparing to attack Iran in response to an Iranian missile attack on October 1. A document also reveals that Israel has consistently refused to publicly confirm that the country has nuclear weapons. The document states that the US has seen no indication that Israel plans to use nuclear weapons against Iran.
Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary for the Middle East and a retired CIA officer, said that “if it is true that Israel’s strategic plans to respond to the October 1 Iranian attack have been leaked, that is a serious breach.”
Mulroy said that “the future rapprochement between the US and Israel could also be challenged. Trust is an important part of the relationship, and how it was leaked could undermine Israel’s trust in the US.”
Documents leaked or tampered with?
The National Security Council has referred the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Pentagon for comment. The Pentagon and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency declined to comment. CNN has reached out to the National Security Agency for comment.
At the same time, another US official said that “these two documents are bad, but not terrible. And the concern is, are there more such documents?”
It is not clear how these documents became public, and it is not known if they were hacked or leaked on purpose. The US is already on high alert about Iranian hacking campaigns – US intelligence agencies said in August that Iran had hacked documents related to Donald Trump’s election campaign.
A major leak of US intelligence last year also strained US relations with allies and partners including South Korea and Ukraine, when a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman posted highly classified information on the social media platform Discord. The leaked documents were first reported by Axios yesterday.
