US ‘deeply concerned’ after classified information on Israel, Iran released – National
President Joe Biden is “deeply concerned” by the release of classified documents about Israel’s preparations for a possible retaliatory attack on Iran, according to a White House spokesman.
US officials confirmed on Saturday that the administration is investigating the unauthorized release of classified documents examining Israel’s plans to attack Iran.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Monday that the administration was not yet sure if classified information had been leaked or hacked.
Kirby added that administration officials have no indication at this time that “any more documents like this are entering the public domain.” He added that the Pentagon is investigating the matter.
“We are very concerned and the president is still very concerned about any leakage of confidential information to the public. That shouldn’t happen and it’s unacceptable if it does,” said Kirby.
The documents are said to have been written by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, and note that Israel was still moving military equipment to carry out a military strike in response to Iran’s missile attack on October 1. “Five Eyes,” the coalition intelligence agency made up of the US, Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
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Marked as top secret, the documents first appeared online on Friday on the Telegram messaging app and quickly spread among Iranians’ popular Telegram channels.
SITE Intelligence Group analysts tracked the release of documents on the Telegram channel popular with Iran-backed militias. The channel contained posts from an anonymous user with a long history of posting other allegedly top secret content who said he had access to the documents. The user also wrote that they sold some of the items and also gave them to the Iranian military.
The Telegram channel presents itself as being based in Tehran, the capital of Iran. It has previously published memes featuring Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and material supporting Tehran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance,” which includes Middle Eastern militant groups armed with the Islamic Republic.
Some of the two documents are similar in style to other National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency materials leaked by Jack Teixeira, an Air National Guardsman who pleaded guilty in March to leaking highly sensitive military documents about Russia’s war in Ukraine and other national security secrets.
The release comes at a critical time in the Middle East, as Israel considers its response to Iran’s aggression.
The US urged Israel to take advantage of the elimination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and press for a ceasefire in Gaza, and urgently warned Israel not to further expand military operations in northern Lebanon and risk a wider regional war. However, Israel’s leadership has repeatedly stressed that it will not allow Iran’s missile attacks to go unchecked.
The investigation into the leak may take time as authorities look for digital or physical clues that could reveal how the information got out, and what implications it could have on information management and intelligence sharing with US partners, according to Gavin Wilde, a senior official. in the Technology and International Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“I think they will eventually get to the bottom of it,” said Wilde, who served on the National Security Council. “The intelligence community has become very good at digital preservation – who has seen a particular document, how often it has been shared, and with whom.”
The country’s intelligence agencies have worked to tighten cyber security following recent leaks involving Teixeira or former NSA contractor Reality Winner. However, accounting for human behavior can be a difficult challenge, according to Shawnee Delaney, a former Defense Intelligence Agency official who is now CEO of the Vaillance Group, an independent threat analysis firm.
“Cybersecurity is not just a technical problem,” Delaney told The Associated Press. “It’s human and people are never predictable.”
A spokesman for the Pentagon and the National Security Agency said officials are aware of the incident but have no further comment.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
