Initial investigation into the US intelligence leak into Israeli attack planning focused on who had access to documents

CNN
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The release on social media of two classified U.S. intelligence documents detailing Israeli preparations for an attack on Iran has sparked a scramble within the U.S. government over how these documents were leaked to gain access to the documents.

The FBI is leading the investigation and working with investigators from the Pentagon and the intelligence community, according to U.S. officials briefed on the matter.

The FBI confirmed the investigation on Tuesday.

“The FBI is investigating the suspected loss of classified documents and is working closely with our partners in the Departments of Defense and Intelligence. As this is an ongoing investigation, we have no further comment,” the office said in a statement.

On Monday, the White House publicly stated that there is currently no indication that any additional documents beyond these two documents have been leaked or will be released.

But the revelation of the two documents – which appeared to have been produced by two Defense Department intelligence agencies, the National Security Agency and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, has deeply disturbed American officials at an extremely sensitive moment in US-Israel relations.

In recent days, investigators have been working to authenticate the documents and determine who may have had access to them, the officials said.

This focus is an indication that the FBI and other investigators are currently operating on the theory that the breach most likely came from a government insider rather than a cyber intrusion.

According to two sources familiar with US intelligence, both documents were publicly available products. But at least one appears to have been scanned from an officially printed information book. That could give investigators a crucial starting point: The Defense Department, like other federal agencies, tracks when employees print confidential documents. The circle of people who printed these pages would be relatively small, these sources said.

However, the investigation is still at an early stage and no conclusions have been drawn, officials say.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday that officials did not yet know how the documents were released and that the Defense Department was continuing its investigation.

Kirby also said they had no reason to believe that similar documents would be released “at this time.”

“We have no indication at this point that we expect further documents like this to find their way into the public domain,” he said.

The documents, dated Oct. 15 and 16, began circulating online Friday after they were posted on Telegram by an account called “Middle East Spectator.” They are marked top secret and indicate that they are only visible to the US and its “Five Eyes” allies – Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK.

One of the documents, purportedly compiled by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, states that the plans involve Israel transporting munitions.

Another document says it comes from the National Security Agency and describes Israeli Air Force exercises with air-to-surface missiles, which are also believed to have served as preparation for an attack on Iran. CNN does not quote or show the documents directly.

Underscoring the sensitive nature of the leak, American officials on Monday were extremely cautious about the investigation. Officially, several authorities refused to even confirm that an investigation was underway.

In a statement over the weekend, the Middle East Spectator account said it was “not aware of any other leaked secret US documents” and that it had “no connection to the original source, who we believe is a whistleblower within the US -Ministry acts”. Defense.”

According to a US official, it is not the description of the documents that worries the intelligence community so much, but rather the fact that they were leaked in the first place. While it is tacitly accepted that the US spies on even its allies, publicly disclosing American surveillance of Israel risks damaging relations at a time when the US is desperately trying to end the series of interconnected conflicts in which Israel is currently embroiled.

A major U.S. intelligence leak last year also strained U.S. relations with allies and partners, including South Korea and Ukraine, after 21-year-old Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira posted top-secret information on the social media platform Discord .

In this case, the FBI was able to act quickly to identify Teixeira, who left an electronic trail that helped investigators quickly narrow down their angle. Texeira is now serving a 16-year prison sentence for the leak, and the Pentagon has since said it has restricted the number of people who have access to certain documents.

This story has been updated with additional reactions.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand and Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.