By According to a report from Axios, U.S. officials are expressing deep concerns over a potential security intelligence breach after two alleged classiied documents detailing Israel’s military plans for a strike Iran, surfaced on a Telegram account linked to Iranian interests. T
The leaked information comes at a critical moment. Israel has just concluded weeks of strategic preparations for a retaliatory attack against Iran. This comes in response to Iran’s October 1st barrage of ballistic missiles targeting Israeli territory. Some experts are speculating that the timing of the leak may be an intentional effort to disrupt Israel’s military response.
The Pentagon and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) have both refrained from commenting directly on the authenticity of the documents, but neither agency has outright denied their legitimacy. The leak reportedly emerged on the Telegram channel “Middle East Spectator,” a platform known for sharing pro-Iranian content. According to the channel, the documents were allegedly obtained from a source within the U.S. intelligence community, sparking fears of a breach at the highest levels of national security.
One of the documents appears to be a report from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), a division of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for analyzing satellite imagery and geographic intelligence. The report was allegedly distributed within U.S. intelligence circles earlier this week. It details significant Israeli military activities, including the transfer of advanced munitions at key Air Force bases—likely intended for a strike on Iran—and preparations for a large-scale Israeli Air Force exercise. This exercise is said to involve intelligence-gathering aircraft, fighter jets, and drone units, suggesting Israel is preparing for a substantial military operation.
While the authenticity of the documents remains unverified, their contents suggest that U.S. intelligence has been closely monitoring Israel’s military operations, utilizing satellite surveillance and signals intelligence. If confirmed, the leak would underscore a significant breach within U.S. intelligence, as classified information appears to have been funneled to a Telegram channel with direct links to Iran.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged concerns about the potential leak to Axios but said that it was unlikely to force a change in Israel’s military plans. On the Israeli side, a senior defense official confirmed awareness of the situation and indicated that Israel is taking the leak “very seriously.”
This incident raises potential complications for U.S.-Israeli relations and could escalate tensions in an already volatile Middle East. Over the past few years, several officials within the Biden-Harris administration, including a Kamala Harris foreign policy adviser, have been shown to have ties to Iran.
In August, two Republicans launched an investigation into Vice President Kamala Harris’s national security adviser, arguing that he has close ties to a network created by the Iranian government to influence the American government.
Ariane Tabatabai is the chief of staff of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations. She is also an officer in US Naval Intelligence.
She has access to all naval movements and all special forces operations in the world, and specifically in the Middle East. pic.twitter.com/zsbXPkcLLf— Caroline Glick (@CarolineGlick) October 20, 2024
The Washington Free Beacon reported that in a “letter to Harris, Cotton, and Stefanik asked the presumptive Democratic nominee to provide information about her adviser Phil Gordon’s “connections to Ms. Ariane Tabatabai, a senior Department of Defense official who was reportedly involved in an Iranian government operation to expand Tehran’s soft power in the United States.”
Gordon, the letter notes, coauthored at least three opinion pieces with Tabatabai that argued against sanctions on the Iranian regime. Tabatabai was outed last year as an alleged member of an Iranian-run influence network that reported back to Tehran’s foreign ministry.
Gordon’s connections to Tabatabai are fueling concerns ahead of the 2024 election. Gordon is likely to play a central national security role in a Harris White House, and his connections to pro-Tehran advocacy groups suggest that renewed diplomacy with Iran will be a top foreign policy priority for Harris if she is elected.”
In 2023, an investigation revealed that Biden officials inside the Pentagon have disturbing connections to Iran. The administration’s top diplomat to Iran, Robert Malley, was suspended from government service after it was revealed that “State Department officials failed to follow standard procedures when suspending the security clearance of Iran special envoy Rob Malley, leading to “significant confusion” about what work he could do, an investigation has found.
In some instances, the confusion ‘likely led’ Malley to engage on topics “outside the limited scope of issues on which he was authorized to work,” according to the investigators’ report.
The findings by the State Department Inspector General’s office — whose report was first obtained by POLITICO — are likely to deepen the mystery around Malley, a controversial Washington figure who has been the subject of an FBI criminal investigation involving his handling of classified information.
Malley’s security clearance was suspended more than a year ago, and he has been on indefinite leave. The FBI probe includes looking into whether Malley moved classified information onto his personal email, where it may have fallen into the hands of a foreign actor, people familiar with the issue have told POLITICO. That could include a hostile state, such as Iran, or a cybercriminal network.”
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