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Who leaked Iran's nuclear program strike assessment? Karoline Leavitt issues grave warning
The White House is looking for a person who leaked a Pentagon intelligence assessment questioning the damage caused by US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The White House is looking for a person who allegedly leaked a confidential Pentagon intelligence assessment questioning the damage caused by US airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The leaked report, which seemed to downplay what the US government thought was a huge military success, infuriated various top officials, including President Donald Trump.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has now blasted the leaker in a statement, saying, "They should go to jail.”
What we know about the leak
The report was written by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and circulated on Sunday, hours after B-2 bombers dropped bombs on three key Iranian nuclear locations, including the Fordow enrichment site. The DIA document reportedly claimed that Iran’s nuclear program may have been delayed by only a few months.
The DIA report, however, was only dependent on initial information and was not a complete assessment. It was compiled without contributions from the CIA, the National Security Agency (NSA), or other intelligence groups.
"It was based on intel from one day, and it was the day after the strike, so clearly it wasn’t anywhere near a complete assessment," one official said, according to the New York Post. "The actual assessment admits that it was not coordinated with the intelligence community."
The DIA report was marked "top secret” even though it lacked full input from agencies. The leak happened before Iran and Israel’s ceasefire deal on Monday.
The investigation is now being led by the FBI. The Justice Department is expected to take appropriate actions once the individual is found.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe recently released a statement saying the strikes caused serious long-term damage to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. This contradicted a previous Pentagon assessment that affirmed the success of the strikes.
"A body of credible intelligence indicates Iran’s Nuclear Program has been severely damaged by the recent, targeted strikes," Ratcliffe said. "This includes new intelligence from an historically reliable and accurate source/method that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years."
