House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) confirmed on Sunday that the U.S. government is now investigating the unauthorized release of these documents, which are believed to have originated from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency.
Now, a senior Pentagon official has been identified as the primary suspect in a classified leak involving the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) plan to strike Iran.
The American official under suspicion has been named as Ariane Tabatabai, an Iranian-American scholar of political science who currently serves as a senior policy advisor at the Pentagon.
…
According to the information obtained by Sky News Arabia, the suspect Ariane Tabatabai, who has not been convicted yet, works as the director of the office of the Assistant to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for Special Operations and International Conflicts.
We Iranians always knew who Ariane Tabatabai is. We tried to warn you.
She has now been implicated by @IsraelHayomHeb as the person who leaked Israel’s attack plans to the regime in Iran.
Next time, LISTEN TO US. pic.twitter.com/fsMfwJ6pVa
— ♛ ✡︎ (@NiohBerg) October 22, 2024
Ariane Tabatabai was previously called out as an Iranian spy.
Wait, so Ariane Tabatabai is the suspect for the leak?
You mean the same person who was already outed as an Iranian agent?
Shocking! pic.twitter.com/uiisiezPCL
— Jews Fight Back (@JewsFightBack) October 22, 2024
Kash Patel outed Ariane Tabatabai in October, 2023 in an interview with Steve Bannon.
Kash Patel: Robert Malley, Biden’s number one envoy, the guy that’s supposed to be keeping us out of war in Iran had his clearance, security clearance suspended by Chris Wray’s FBI, of all people, just two months ago! You got to ask why? They won’t publicly release it. Well, let me tell you why. Because an individual named Ariane Tabatabai, who, by the way, is currently running our special operations office at the department of Defense, was installed there by Robert Malley? Yes, the former presidential envoy to Iran installed this Iranian national to that position in DoD. – And do you know what she did in 2014? She emailed the Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, and asked for permission as a US. Citizen to take a trip on behalf of the US. Government. This individual is still employed at the Department of Defense as the assistant chief of staff for the special operations office. The Iranian regime has infiltrated the Biden administration.
In September of 2023, four members of the U.S. Senate sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austing calling for the suspension of Tabatabai’s security clearance.
Last year, I called for suspending Ariane Tabatabai’s security clearance for her role in an Iranian info op. Amazingly, she’s still in her job.
The latest apparent leak to an Iranian Telegram channel reflects the Biden-Harris administration’s tolerance of insider threats. pic.twitter.com/Ma6Z6ZAy6W
— Senator Roger Wicker (@SenatorWicker) October 21, 2024
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Pentagon denies employee of Iranian origin leaked Israel’s strike intel
Last week, two US intelligence documents reportedly disclosing Israel’s plan for a potential retaliatory attack on Iran were leaked
The Pentagon denied that Ariane Tabatabai, Chief of Staff of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations, is a subject of interest in the investigation for the alleged leak of classified documents pertaining to Israel’s plans for a retaliatory attack against Iran.
“To my knowledge, this official is not a subject of interest,” said Press Secretary of the Air Force, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.
Earlier Tuesday, Sky News Arabia cited a senior Pentagon official who reportedly named Tabatabai as the main suspect in the FBI’s investigation into the leaks.
According to Sky News, Tabatabai came under fire in 2023 after members of Congress wrote to Defense Secretary Austin asking for Tabatabai to be removed from her position due to security concerns over her alleged communication with the IRGC.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has spoken with his Israeli counterpart Defense Minister Yoav Gallant regarding the leaks, Ryder said.
“The FBI is investigating the alleged leak of classified documents and working closely with the Department of Defense and the intelligence community on this,” Ryder said Tuesday.
“Anytime there’s an allegation of potential unauthorized disclosures, the Pentagon is going to take it seriously,” he said.
The FBI is leading the investigation, limiting what Ryder was able to say from the Pentagon’s podium. He declined to answer why the Pentagon is not conducting its own investigation into how the documents leaked.
Last week, two US intelligence documents reportedly disclosing Israel’s plan for a potential retaliatory attack on Iran were leaked and disseminated on a Telegram channel.
The channel claimed it had received the documents via a source within the US intelligence community.
US investigating incident
Following the leak, the US said it was investigating the incident, which House Speaker Mike Johnson characterized as “very concerning.”
Israel said it would respond to Iran’s October 1 attack, which saw the Islamic Republic launch some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel.
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Leaked intel on Israel’s Iran strike plans takes White House war on Israel to a new level
How the heck did top-secret US intel on Israel’s military plans wind up on a pro-Iranian Telegram channel?
Whether it was incompetence, hostile espionage or an intentional leak, it was a blow to a US ally caught in a multi-front war — with President Biden, Veep Kamala Harris and the rest of their administration constantly carping about Israel’s tactics.
Countries spy on their friends all the time, but sabotaging them is another matter.
The leaks include two top-secret reports by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency on Israel’s plans to retaliate against Iran’s missile attack this month: They detail the aircraft and munitions to be deployed as well as military exercises that appear to be training for the strike.
Good news: The reports don’t flag potential targets or definitively predict the “scale and scope” of a strike.
Bad news: It’s not clear how much more info leaked and could become public, or simply wind up in Tehran’s hands, potentially doing far more damage.
It’s nearly certain the leaks came from somewhere in the administration; this top-secret info originated at a US intel agency and looks to be nothing that would legitimately be shared outside the US government.
And at least one top Biden-Harris official, suspended Iran special envoy Robert Malley, is thought to have stored classified material on his personal email account and cellphone, where it was later accessed by a “hostile cyber actor.”
Plus: Malley had ties to a pro-Iran group, the Iran Experts Initiative, some of whose affiliates, such as Ariane Tabatabai, continue to work in top posts where they might have access to classified docs.
And anyone in this administration might leak thinking to help Biden-Harris goals: The White House, after all, is publicly fretting that Israel’s coming response to Iran’s recent, massive ballistic missile attacks might go too far.
Indeed, many Biden-Harris folks openly despise the Jewish state: Hundreds of federal employees have expressed outrage over US support for Israel in the war begun by Hamas’ Oct. 7 atrocities.
Biden and Harris themselves have held up weapons shipments, ordered Israel not to go into Rafah (where it thankfully eliminated Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar last week) and told Jerusalem not to respond to Iran’s first missile and drone attack back in April.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken again just threatened to cut off military aid. Harris called a heckler’s claim that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians “real.”
The White House has already been complaining about Jerusalem’s failure to share its war plans, but this scandal should guarantee the Biden-Harris folks learn even less.
However the leaks happened, Israel doesn’t dare share sensitive information with Washington now — not until the entire current administration is gone.
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