By Zeke Miller, Mike Balsamo, Eric Tucker and Tara Copp | Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The United States is investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents assessing Israel’s plans to attack Iran, three U.S. officials told The Associated Press. A fourth US official said the documents appear to be legitimate.
The documents are attributed to the US Geospatial Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency and note that Israel continues to move military assets into place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran’s lightning ballistic missile attack on October 1st. They were divisible within the “Five Eyes”, which are the United States, Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
The documents, which are marked top secret, were posted online on Telegram and were first reported by CNN and Axios. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The investigation is also looking into how the documents were obtained — including whether it was a deliberate leak by a member of the U.S. intelligence community or obtained through another method, such as a hack — and whether any other intelligence information was compromised, one of the officials said. As part of that investigation, officials are working to determine who had access to the documents before they were published, the official said.
The documents emerged as the US has urged Israel to take advantage of it elimination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and pushing for a cease-fire in Gaza, and has also 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 let Iran’s missile attack go unanswered.
In a statement, the Pentagon said it was aware of the reports about the documents but had no further comment.