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U.S. investigating unauthorized release of classified documents on Israel’s attack plans
The United States is investigating a reported unauthorized release of classified documents that assess Israel’s plans to attack Iran, a U.S. defense official confirmed to CBS News.
The documents are attributed to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency, and note that Israel was still moving military assets in place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran’s blistering ballistic missile attack on Oct. 1. They were sharable within the “Five Eyes,” which are the U.S., Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
The documents, which are marked top secret, were posted to the Telegram messaging app and first reported on Saturday by CNN and Axios.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, confirmed that an investigation is underway.
“There’s a classified-level briefing … we are following it closely,” he said, not providing any additional details on the briefing.
The White House said it was not commenting on the purported leak, despite Johnson’s confirmation of an investigation, and directed CBS News’ questions to the Department of Justice.
Spokespeople for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the FBI declined to comment. A U.S. official told the Associated Press that the documents appear to be legitimate.
The investigation is also examining how the documents were obtained — including whether it was an intentional leak by a member of the U.S. intelligence community or obtained by another method, like a hack — and whether any 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 posted, the official said.
In a statement, the Pentagon said it was aware of the reports of the documents but did not have further comment.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the leak of the two documents.
The documents first appeared online Friday via a channel on Telegram, claiming they had been leaked by someone in the U.S. intelligence community, then later the U.S. Defense Department. The information appeared entirely gathered through the use of satellite image analysis.
One of the two documents resembled the style of other material from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency leaked by Jack Teixeira, an Air National Guardsman who pleaded guilty in March to leaking 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, Iran’s capital. It previously published memes featuring Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and material in support of Tehran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance,” which includes Middle East militant groups armed by the Islamic Republic.
The U.S. has urged Israel to take advantage of its elimination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and press for a cease-fire in Gaza, and has likewise urgently cautioned Israel not to further expand military operations in the north in Lebanon and risk a wider regional war. However, Israel’s leadership has repeatedly stressed it will not let Iran’s missile attack go unanswered.
,
Charlie D’Agata and
contributed to this report.
CBS News
John Kinsel Sr., one of the last Navajo Code Talkers from World War II, dies at 107
John Kinsel Sr., one of the last remaining Navajo Code Talkers who transmitted messages during World War II based on the tribe’s native language, has died. He was 107.
Navajo Nation officials in Window Rock announced Kinsel’s death on Saturday.
Tribal President Buu Nygren has ordered all flags on the reservation to be flown at half-staff until Oct. 27 at sunset to honor Kinsel.
“Mr. Kinsel was a Marine who bravely and selflessly fought for all of us in the most terrifying circumstances with the greatest responsibility as a Navajo Code Talker,” Nygren said in a statement Sunday.
With Kinsel’s death, only two original Navajo Code Talkers are still alive: Former Navajo Chairman Peter MacDonald and Thomas H. Begay.
Hundreds of Navajos were recruited by the Marines to serve as Code Talkers during the war, transmitting messages based on their then-unwritten native language.
They confounded Japanese military cryptologists, who were breaking the U.S. military’s codes routinely during World War II.
“It was taken for granted they could interpret whatever we were transmitting,” Richard Bonham, a World War II radio operator, told “60 Minutes” in 2002.
The Code Talkers also participated in all assaults the Marines led in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945, including at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Peleliu and Iwo Jima.
The Code Talkers sent thousands of messages without error on Japanese troop movements, battlefield tactics and other communications crucial to the war’s ultimate outcome.
The language lacked modern military terms, so they came up with creative solutions, like substituting radar for owl — a bird that can see far away — and hand grenade for potato — because of their similar shapes.
Kinsel was born in Cove, Arizona, and lived in the Navajo community of Lukachukai.
He enlisted in the Marines in 1942 and became an elite Code Talker, serving with the 9th Marine Regiment and the 3rd Marine Division during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
President Ronald Reagan established Navajo Code Talkers Day in 1982 and the Aug. 14 holiday honors all the tribes associated with the war effort.
The day is an Arizona state holiday and Navajo Nation holiday on the vast reservation that occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico and southeastern Utah.
CBS News
Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Alexei Navalny, continues fight against Putin | 60 Minutes
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Door County, Wisconsin: Where voters have backed the presidential winner for years
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