The Capitol Building is seen from the National Mall in Washington DC on Friday, August 9, 2024.
U.S. officials are investigating the apparent leak of two top-secret U.S. documents that show American spy agencies tracking possible Israeli preparations for conducting an attack on Iran, three U.S. officials said.
The region has been on edge awaiting Israel’s response to an Iranian missile barrage launched on Oct. 1, which Iran said was in response to Israel’s invasion of Lebanon and the assassination of its allies, including Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, and Hezbollah’s powerful leader, Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut.
Two U.S. officials said that the leaked documents appear to be authentic. The damage to national security appears to be limited in scope though the assessment is still ongoing, according to a U.S. official.
U.S. intelligence agencies declined to comment on the documents, which were posted on the social media application, Telegram, Friday.
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Both documents have markings on them that say they are “Top Secret.” The heading on one of the documents reads, “Israel: Air Force Continues Preparations for Strike on Iran and Conducts a Second Large-Force Employment Exercise 15-16 October 2024.”
The second document is labeled “National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency,” the name of the American spy agency that specializes in analyzing satellite imagery and other sources of intelligence.
The heading on the document states, “Israeli Defense Forces Continued Key Munitions Preparations and Covert UAV Activity Almost Certainly for a Strike on Iran, 16 October 2024,” referring to unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones.
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The text of the documents says, “We cannot definitively predict the scale and scope of a strike on Iran, and such a strike can occur with no further GEOINT warning.”
It also states that Israel appears to have dispersed its medium-range ballistic missiles, or MRBMs, as a defensive measure to protect them from Iranian attack and that there are no indications that Israel plans to carry out a nuclear attack on Iran.
“MRBM dispersal is almost certainly defensive,” the document says. “We have not observed indications that Israel intends to use a nuclear weapon.”
The apparent leak of two documents comes after a Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty in March to posting a trove of top-secret documents on the social media app Discord. That leak was seen as a deeply damaging lapse in security and resulted in calls for the intelligence community to do far more to prevent leaks.
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