U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), a senior member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, is pressing the Biden-Harris administration to provide Congress with biweekly briefings on the status of its investigation into an explosive intelligence leak detailing Israel’s preparations for an attack on Iran, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.
Cotton, who also sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, informed the White House on Tuesday that he expects both committees to be briefed every two weeks on the administration’s efforts to identify the leaker and determine how classified intelligence about Israel’s military moves spilled into public view.
The request signals the seriousness with which Congress is treating a leak that exposed highly secretive information about America’s closest Middle East ally. With Israel carefully weighing its options for a widely expected counterstrike on Iran, the disclosure of its military movements—including the types of aircraft and munitions likely to be used—could be part of a pressure tactic to handicap the Jewish state ahead of the November election.
"This leak is an outrageous betrayal of an ally and a breach of trust that will undermine our relationship with partners for years to come," Cotton wrote to the White House, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Free Beacon. "I am deeply concerned as to whether your administration will adequately address this serious security breach."
The two classified documents—compiled by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency over the past several weeks—first appeared in an Iran-linked Telegram channel over the weekend, and quickly spread via social media.
They detail Israeli military preparations for a strike inside Iran as payback for the Islamic Republic’s Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack. Current and former U.S. officials who reviewed the top secret documents said they likely emanated from an American source and constitute a "deadly serious breach."
The White House said Monday that President Joe Biden is "deeply concerned" about the leak. White House spokesman John Kirby also raised the possibility of "additional documents like this finding their way into the public domain."
Cotton said the bombshell disclosure is the culmination of a longstanding campaign by the Biden-Harris administration to restrict Israel’s war maneuvers as it faces down Iran-backed terror proxies in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror spree.
"Officials in your administration have repeatedly leaked information clearly designed to pressure Israel to curb its righteous campaign against Iran and its terrorist proxies over the last year," Cotton wrote. "These leaks have ranged from reports of personal conversations between American and Israeli officials to assessments of Iranian intent and are clearly designed to handcuff Israel."
Prior to the top secret intelligence assessments becoming public, anonymous "U.S. officials" informed CNN that Israel had finalized plans for a counterstrike on Iran, noting that it would occur prior to the November presidential election.
Earlier in the month, after Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel for the second time this year, Biden publicly said that Israel’s response would not immediately occur, again providing operational details that could have helped Tehran prepare for an onslaught.
In late September, just before Israel began major operations targeting Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, an unnamed "U.S. official" disclosed to the Washington Post private details about the Jewish state’s military movement.
"In each instance, these leaks are providing aid to Israel’s—and America’s— enemy about likely Israeli attack plans and limiting Israeli freedom of action," Cotton wrote.
A senior congressional aide with knowledge of Congress’s thinking on the matter said that, particularly among GOP lawmakers, there is concern that "the Biden-Harris administration can’t be trusted to get to the bottom of this security breach."
Congress, the source added, "is intent on ensuring the investigation is thorough and that the perpetrator is caught in short order."
