washington — President Biden is “deeply concerned” about the potential leak of U.S. intelligence documents related to Israel’s preparations for an attack on Iran that the Pentagon is investigating, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday.
Kirby told reporters the Biden administration could not yet say whether classified information released over the weekend on the messaging app Telegram was leaked or the result of a hack, but the president said he would “actively monitor” the progress of investigative efforts. .
“I know the Department of Defense is looking into this matter, and I’m sure they will try to determine how it was made public,” Kirby said. “We are deeply concerned, and the President remains deeply concerned, about confidential information being leaked into the public domain. That should not happen, and it is unacceptable when it does happen.”
White House press secretary Carine Jean-Pierre said the matter was “under investigation” and the president had “full confidence” in the federal agencies involved.
Ministry of Defense official told CBS News Over the weekend, the United States said it was investigating reports that two top-secret intelligence documents containing information about Israel’s response plans to an Iranian missile attack on October 1 had been released. House Speaker Mike Johnson also told CNN on Sunday. They say the investigation is ongoing. Kirby’s comments are the first on the record from a Biden administration official confirming the investigation.
The document was published on a Telegram account called Middle East Spectator. Although the channel has a history of posting pro-Iran content, the account does not indicate that it is a pro-Iran group. The document appears to outline Israel’s plans for retaliation against Iran, including the deployment and redeployment of weapons. The documents, marked top secret, were first reported Saturday by CNN and Axios.
Charlie D’Agata contributed to this report.
