The FBI is investigating the leak of classified documents that detailed Israeli preparations to retaliate against Iran, as officials seek to clamp down on yet another embarrassing disclosure of U.S. intelligence secrets.
The bureau is probing the disclosure and “working closely with our partners in the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community,” the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement Tuesday, without providing further details.
The two leaked documents emerged late last week on the Telegram messaging platform. Based on U.S. geospatial and signals intelligence, they report that Israel conducted covert drone activity and prepared munitions — including long-range air-launched ballistic missiles — ahead of planned retaliation against Iran.
The information exposed only a limited amount of information. But it was another failure for the U.S. intelligence apparatus a year and a half after a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman leaked secret maps, updates and assessments of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
It also underscored the awkward reality that the U.S. routinely spies on its own allies. That risks fueling tensions between Washington and Jerusalem at a time when the U.S. is already trying to rein in Israel from targeting Iran’s nuclear and energy facilities.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been in touch with his Israeli counterpart to discuss the leak, Major General Pat Ryder, the Defense Department spokesman, told reporters on Tuesday. He declined to provide details about the conversation.
The U.S. documents were revealing in other ways, including with a reference to Israel’s nuclear-weapons capability, something that the two countries have never formally acknowledged. According to the document, the U.S. has “not observed indications that Israel intends to use a nuclear weapon” in its attack on Iran. Under a section headlined “Nuclear and Missile,” it indicates with low confidence that Israel’s nuclear and missile forces aren’t on alert.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has repeatedly said it will retaliate against Iran for an Oct. 1 barrage of ballistic missiles that hit several military targets across Israel.
U.S. officials are still uncertain whether the documents spilled into the public domain as a result of an intentional leak by a whistleblower or a hack by an outside agent. But U.S. intelligence officials on Tuesday said they don’t have any evidence that the documents were leaked by a foreign adversary as part of an effort to interfere in next month’s presidential election.
The White House is “deeply concerned, and the president remains deeply concerned, about any leakage of classified information into the public domain,” U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday.
Last year, the U.S. was left red-faced following the biggest U.S. intelligence leak in a decade. Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old airman, leaked dozens of pages of documents on the Discord text and video chat app in an exposure that highlighted not only up-to-the-minute assessments of Russia’s war on Ukraine but also how the U.S. collects intelligence around the world. Teixeira pleaded guilty to retaining and transmitting classified documents and faces more than a decade in prison.
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