October 20, 2024
US officials are investigating the leaking of secret material about Israel’s military preparations to attack Iran’s October 1 ballistic missile attack. The Associated Press reports that these classified files, which have been claimed by the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency, were leaked within the “Five Eyes” intelligence coalition (U.S., UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand), and then distributed on Telegram.
The files depict Israel putting military forces in the position to strike Iran, which provoked a probe into how the papers were procured. The United States government is trying to determine if the leak was the internal work of an intelligence officer or a cyberattack. The probe also attempts to determine whether other intelligence was leaked.
One of the documents had overlap with other classified information leaked earlier by Jack Teixeira, an Air National Guardsman who previously revealed confidential details of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
House Speaker Mike Johnson also made clear on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the leak was no joke, adding that he was waiting for a classified briefing. The Pentagon confirmed that it was aware of the reports but declined to comment further, and Israeli military authorities have not responded.
It is a security breach that is troubling for U.S. intelligence because the records appear to have been captured using satellite photos and analysis, and therefore potentially useful for military planning purposes.
The Telegram group that originally uploaded the leak claims to be in Tehran – making the geopolitical challenges of Iran’s regional reach and military patronage of militants throughout the Middle East even more problematic.
The incident is on lockdown while the U.S. government tries to recover their intelligence tools and establish the extent of the leak.
Sources:
• Fox News
