The United States is investigating a reported unauthorized release of classified documents assessing Israel’s plans to attack Iran, House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday.
The documents, attributed to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, note that Israel was still moving military assets into place to carry out a military strike in response to Iran’s blistering ballistic missile attack on 1 October. They could be shared within the “Five Eyes,” which are the United States, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, the Associated Press reported.
The documents, which are marked top secret, were sent to the Telegram messaging app and first reported Saturday by CNN and Axios.
Johnsonwho spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, confirmed that an investigation is underway.
“There is a classified-level briefing … we are following it closely,” he said, without giving further details about the briefing.
The White House said it would not comment on the alleged leak, despite Johnson’s confirmation of an investigation, and referred CBS News’ questions to the Justice Department. A DOJ spokesman declined to comment Sunday.
Spokesmen for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the FBI declined to comment. A US official told the AP that the documents appear to be legitimate.
The investigation is also looking into how the documents were obtained — including whether it was an intentional leak by a member of the U.S. intelligence community or obtained through another method, such as a hack — and whether other intelligence information was compromised, a U.S. official told the AP. As part of that investigation, officials are working to determine who had access to the documents before they were released, the official said.
In a statement, the Pentagon said it was aware of the reports about the documents but had no further comment.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the leak of the two documents.
The documents first appeared online on Friday via a channel called “Middle East Spectator” on Telegram, claiming to have been leaked by someone in the US intelligence community, then later the US Department of Defense. The information appeared to be gathered using satellite image analysis.
One of the two documents was similar in style to other National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency material leaked by Jack Teixeira, an Air National Guardsman who pleaded guilty in March to leak highly classified military documents about Russia’s war on Ukraine and other national security secrets.
The Telegram channel involved in the leak identifies itself as being based in Tehran, the capital of Iran. It has previously published memes featuring Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and material supporting Tehran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance,” which includes Middle East militant groups armed by the Islamic Republic.
The US has encouraged Israel to take advantage of its elimination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and push 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 emphasized that they will not let Iran’s missile attacks go unanswered.
Charlie D’Agata and Kathryn Watson contributed to this report.