ROME: There are no indications any employees from the Office of the Secretary of Defense are being investigated for the leak of US intelligence about Israel’s preparations to strike Iran, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday.
“There’s no OSD official being named as a part of this investigation,” Austin said while speaking to reporters in Rome.
The FBI said on Tuesday it was investigating the public disclosure of a pair of highly classified documents describing Israel’s preparations for a retaliatory strike on Iran.
Austin added that he did not have any indication that “any OSD official will be implicated as a part of this.”
Social media posts, without evidence, have singled out a US Defense Department employee as being under investigation for the leak.
The leaked documents appear to have been prepared by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, describing US interpretations of Israeli Air Force and Navy planning based on satellite imagery from Oct. 15-16. They began circulating last week on the Telegram messaging app.
Israel has been planning a response to a ballistic-missile barrage carried out by Iran on Oct. 1, Tehran’s second direct attack on Israel in six months. Israel has intensified its offensive in Gaza and Lebanon, days after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
White House spokesman John Kirby said on Monday that it has not been determined whether the disclosure was a hack or an intentional leak by a US person with access to the sensitive intelligence.
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No indications employees from defense secretary’s office are being investigated for Israel leak, Pentagon chief says
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No indications employees from defense secretary’s office are being investigated for Israel leak, Pentagon chief says
- Social media posts, without evidence, have singled out a US Defense Department employee as being under investigation for the leak
Cuban FM to meet Putin Wednesday amid oil crisis: Kremlin
- Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday, the Kremlin said
MOSCOW: Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday, the Kremlin said, in a visit to the socialist island’s traditional ally during a crippling US oil embargo.
Moscow has accused the United States of using “suffocating measures” against Havana and has said it was mulling sending aid to Cuba.
US President Donald Trump cut off key supplies of Venezuelan oil to Cuba after ousting Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro. He has also threatened sanctions on countries that sell oil to Cuba.
The island has long grappled with a severe fuel shortage but the US embargo has deepened the crisis.
“Putin will receive Bruno Rodriguez in the Kremlin,” the Russian leader’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters, including AFP.
“The Russian Federation has consistently opposed the blockade of Cuba,” Peskov said, adding: “we provide assistance to our friends.”
Cuba has been allied to Moscow since its 1960s socialist revolution, relying on the Soviet Union for economic and political support for decades.
The Kremlin maintained close ties to the Caribbean island after the USSR collapsed.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier said Rodriguez was leading a Cuban delegation that is “currently in Moscow.”
Rodriguez will also hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, Zakharova said.
Putin, an ex-KGB spy, visited Cuba in 2014, meeting with the island’s revolution leader Fidel Castro, who died two years later.
Moscow has accused the United States of using “suffocating measures” against Havana and has said it was mulling sending aid to Cuba.
US President Donald Trump cut off key supplies of Venezuelan oil to Cuba after ousting Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro. He has also threatened sanctions on countries that sell oil to Cuba.
The island has long grappled with a severe fuel shortage but the US embargo has deepened the crisis.
“Putin will receive Bruno Rodriguez in the Kremlin,” the Russian leader’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters, including AFP.
“The Russian Federation has consistently opposed the blockade of Cuba,” Peskov said, adding: “we provide assistance to our friends.”
Cuba has been allied to Moscow since its 1960s socialist revolution, relying on the Soviet Union for economic and political support for decades.
The Kremlin maintained close ties to the Caribbean island after the USSR collapsed.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier said Rodriguez was leading a Cuban delegation that is “currently in Moscow.”
Rodriguez will also hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, Zakharova said.
Putin, an ex-KGB spy, visited Cuba in 2014, meeting with the island’s revolution leader Fidel Castro, who died two years later.
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