At least in public, the Biden administration hasn’t admitted to a full-on leak somewhere within its agencies charged with handling sensitive information for the U.S. and its allies.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday it’s possible the public appearance of classified documents regarding Israel’s preparations for an attack against Iran were the result of a hack.
Investigations into that release, which occurred over the weekend on the social media messaging app Telegram, are ongoing.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) is willing to give the administration the benefit of the doubt but has doubts of his own.
“I know that John Kirby has indicated it may have been a hack or a leak, he wasn’t sure which,” Rounds said on the Washington Watch program Tuesday.
CNN reported Sunday that the documents first appeared under a Telegram account called the Middle East Spectator. The channel has a history of posting pro-Iran content, although the account says it is not a pro-Iran group, according to CBS News.
The documents appear to show the planning of an Israeli retaliation on Iran, including the positioning and repositioning of weapons.
Wicker has an idea on leaker
One possible suspect called out by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) this week is Ariane Tabatabai, a senior political advisor to the Department of Defense.
Wicker cited multiple sources to back his deep concerns about Tabatabai in a letter he wrote to Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin in September of 2023. Tabatabai remains employed today.
“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,” Wicker wrote on X this week.
The exact source of the leak is presently unclear whether it’s from the Pentagon, the National Security wing, or someplace within the intelligence community. But Rounds doesn’t need a full-scale report to know what he’s already seen.
“For some reason this administration seems to believe they can trust Iran. That’s at the same time we know Iran has been trying to execute our former officers of the United States including the former president. These guys aren’t to be trusted, and we should not be simply communicating with the Iranians on anything,” Rounds told show host Tony Perkins.
CNN cited a U.S. official in its original report who said the damage from the two leaked documents is “bad but not horrible. The concern is if there are more.”
Rounds says he’s trying to maintain hope that the Biden administration, long at odds with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Israel’s response to the murderous rampage by Hamas terrorists last Oct. 7, is not sharing Israel’s secrets.
Rounds says he doesn't believe the administration is brazenly sharing Israel's secrets. Whether it is or isn't, President Joe Biden and his staff are responsible for information which has ended up in the wrong hands.
“I’m assuming that they are not, but clearly this stuff is leaking out. Someone within the administration is leaking it out, or they’ve been hacked, one or the other, but in any event, I don’t blame Israel one bit for keeping a lot of information very secretive and away from this administration. There’s something not right in the White House or the administration because that information should never have been in a place where it could have been leaked in the first place,” Rounds said.
Israel kept Nasrallah plans secret
Israel had in fact kept some of its previous plans secret and that decision enraged Biden, Israel journalist and Middle East analyst Joel Rosenberg said on American Family Radio earlier this month.
Specifically, the U.S. was not informed of Israel’s plans of the mission that led to the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in late September.
“Within hours senior officials were leaking how furious they were, that they weren’t informed, that Israel did this without our permission,” Rosenberg told show host Jenna Ellis.
It was an absurd response, Rosenberg said, considering that the very Hezbollah leadership and militants killed by Israeli attacks have killed hundreds of Americans in different Middle East incidents through the years.
“How come the United States didn’t bring these terrorists to justice over the last 40 years?" he asked. "When we do it, we’re criticized. We’re told to stand down and de-escalate. We’re getting a clear picture of two entirely different philosophies and approaches to foreign policy and security.”
Retired Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata told The Hill earlier this month that Netanyahu is simply reacting to U.S. policy decisions.
Tata, a former undersecretary of defense for policy in the Trump administration, said that Netanyahu has likely reached an understanding that the U.S. is not giving him the support he wants politically.
“Netanyahu understands he’s got to go this alone,” Tata said.
A Jewish News Syndicate poll shortly after the Nasrallah mission showed that 83% of Israelis agreed with Netanyahu’s decision to keep the U.S. in the dark ahead of time.
Rounds thought then that perhaps the Israelis were beginning to doubt U.S. security competence.
“When they executed those plans without our knowledge, I wondered at the time if there had been a breach, and they were not going to let this particular information out where anybody could have a prior warning as to what they were doing,” he said.
Rounds: No situational awareness from admin
Regardless of the source of the leak, Rounds says the administration is playing free and loose with sensitive information.
“This is not a practice. This is a big deal. This is an existential threat to their long-term survivability. Sometimes I think the administration doesn’t see it that way.
“They don’t seem to understand that Israel can’t make a mistake out of this. Israel has to have clear evidence that Iran does not have nuclear capabilities. This administration seems to think they can just negotiate with the Iranians and get something done, and that’s just simply not happening.”
