The Pentagon has reportedly named Chief of Staff of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations, Ariane Tabatabai, as the prime suspect for an alleged leak of classified documents, Sky News Arabia reported on Tuesday, citing a senior Pentagon official.
Tabatabai, an American of Iranian origin, is also an officer in US Naval Intelligence.
Ariane Tabatabai is the chief of staff of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations. She is also an officer in US Naval Intelligence.She has access to all naval movements and all special forces operations in the world, and specifically in the Middle East. pic.twitter.com/zsbXPkcLLf
— Caroline Glick (@CarolineGlick) October 20, 2024
The FBI has also begun investigating the leak of a pair of highly classified intelligence documents describing Israel's preparations for a retaliatory strike on Iran, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
"The FBI is investigating the alleged leak of classified documents and working closely with our partners in the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community," the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement cited by the Washington Post.
“As this is an ongoing investigation, we have no further comment,” the statement further read.
Last week, two US intelligence documents reportedly disclosing Israel's plan for a potential retaliatory attack on Iran were leaked and disseminated on a Telegram channel.
The channel claimed it had received the documents via a source within the US intelligence community.
US investigating incident
Following the leak, the US said it was investigating the incident, which House Speaker Mike Johnson characterized as "very concerning."
Israel said it would respond to Iran's October 1 attack, which saw the Islamic Republic launch some 180 ballistic missiles at Israel.
Tovah Lazaroff and Walla contributed to this report.