The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating the leak of classified U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) documents last week, according to a statement released by the FBI. The DOD documents contained information on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) preparing for a strike against Iran, and were allegedly leaked on Telegram shortly before the planned strike.
White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby responded to questions on the leak, and noted President Biden is concerned about a leak within the DOD, stating:
We’re not exactly sure how these documents found their way into the public domain…. The president remains deeply concerned about any leakage of classified information into the public domain. That is not supposed to happen, and it’s unacceptable when it does.
The FBI also responded, confirming it is investigating the alleged leak, but stated it had no further comment due to the ongoing investigation:
The FBI is investigating the alleged leak of classified documents and working closely with our partners in the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community…. As this is an ongoing investigation, we have no further comment.
The Telegram channel Middle East Spectator responded to allegations claiming it is affiliated with the Iranian government, stating, “Middle East Spectator is an open-source news aggregator. We are independent journalists, and are not tied to any government entity or organization.” The channel also released the following statement in response to multiple reports claiming the channel was connected to the DOD whistleblower, stating in a post on Telegram:
As a response to various media inquiries, we express that Middle East Spectator is not aware of any additional leaked classified U.S. documents.
We also reiterate that we have no connection to the original source, which we assume to be a whistleblower within the U.S. Department of Defense.
As far as we are aware, the documents first appeared in a private Telegram group with just over 7000 members, where the leaker was likely present. Somehow, the documents found their way out of the group; it was at this moment that Middle East Spectator took notice of the documents through an anonymous DM. Such DMs were sent to various other people and news outlets.
We furthermore reject claims made by various media outlets, including Axios and the Jerusalem Post, stating that we are ‘Iran-affiliated’. Middle East Spectator is a tight-knit team of fully independent journalists.
