White House says Biden is ‘deeply concerned’ about leaked Israel documents

The White House said Monday President Biden remains “deeply concerned” about the leaking of sensitive Pentagon documents that detailed Israeli preparations for an attack on Iran and plans for a potential Iranian counterattack.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that a Defense Department investigation is seeking to “determine the manner in which they did become public,” but he could not comment on whether the document release was a hack or a leak.

“At this point, we’ll let the investigation pursue its logical course there. We’re deeply concerned, and the president remains deeply concerned, about any leakage of classified information into the public domain,” he said. “That is not supposed to happen, and it’s unacceptable when it does.”

Kirby said that Biden will be “actively monitoring the progress of the investigative effort to figure out how this happened.”

“And obviously he’ll be very interested in hearing any mitigation measures and recommendations that come as a result of the investigative efforts and how to prevent it from happening again,” he added.

The leaked documents, which began circulating on Telegram, including on pro-Iranian accounts, appear to be from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. The leaks include a pair of documents that indicate Israeli exercises to prepare for an attack on Iran and another that indicates preparations for an Iranian counterattack.

The New York Times, citing U.S. officials, reported that the documents were authentic but the information in them was not deeply consequential and the damage would be minimal if no further records appear online.

The Pentagon is still reeling from the 2023 release of a tranche of sensitive and classified documents by 22-year-old former airman Jack Teixeira, who leaked information about U.S. military and Defense Department thinking about the war in Ukraine and several other countries. Teixeira pleaded guilty earlier this year to several counts for transmitting national security information.

Israel is weighing a response to Iran, which fired some 180 ballistic missiles toward Israel on Oct. 1, that could come before Election Day, news outlets have reported. The U.S. now believes that Israel will not strike Iranian nuclear or oil sites, which Biden has previously warned against doing.

Kirby told reporters on Monday that he would not discuss any further what Israel’s strike on Iran would look like.

“That’s truly up to them to decide, and it’s absolutely up to them to speak to it one way or the other, not coming from the United States,” he said.