The recent story of Iranian spies inside the Pentagon is a gigantic problem for the Democratic administration just a few days before the presidential elections. But the problem is much broader because there is a problem of credibility of the American security structures which involves the allied countries, among which there is not only Israel. But what is happening in Washington DC? We asked Irina Tsukerman, a lawyer specializing in national security and human rights, collaborator of the Arabian Peninsula Institute, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and member of the board of directors of the Washington Outsider Center for Information Warfare.
«The Pentagon has had both political and counterintelligence problems for many years. The politicization of intelligence began with Obama, but continued under Trump, during whose tenure the Pentagon lied about the rise of the Taliban, and continued the ruse during the Biden administration until the disastrous withdrawal. Furthermore, it is clear that political appointees have become yes-men who have refused to challenge administrations on their policies. Mattis and several Trump Defense Department administrators resigned over policy differences, but under Obama and Biden the poor decisions went unchallenged. Under Obama there was no push internally at the Pentagon or other agencies regarding the JCPOA and concerns related to Iran or the fact that Obama’s regional realignment policy led to conflict and increased security concerns for the US military in the region. The Biden administration is made up mostly of former Obama officials, despite the fact that Obama’s legacy and policies have been discredited not by Trump, but by facts on the ground, by the proliferation of conflicts, by acts of aggression increasingly brazen actions by Iran and its proxies, by Iranian intelligence operations in Europe and North America, by attempts to kidnap or assassinate the opposition and even US officials even on American soil.”
Is this a problem that has been lingering over the administration led by Barack Obama?
« Both Obama and Biden even justified Iranian domestic interference in US politics as part of public diplomacy to realign public opinion with the JCPOA or with a new agreement in prospect. The network of Iranian influence agents, which included US officials with clearance, which would normally be considered a major counterintelligence failure, was actually welcomed as part of normal Obama-Biden policy. People like Robert Malley, Ariane Tabatabai, and Dina Esfandiary were not considered dangerous Iranian assets; they were valued as tools of US foreign policy that suited the agenda of their respective administrations as much as Iran. It should therefore be no surprise that they crossed the line of what was acceptable, lawful, and simply doing their job, to carry out commands on behalf of Iran that also crossed the line in the eyes of the administration, at least when they were eventually discovered . Whether or not they enjoyed tacit complicity in even the most egregious security breaches is yet to be investigated, but the cover-up of Malley’s security breaches certainly raises this specter. Tabatabai is the prime suspect in a major leak about Israel’s retaliation plan, but her role must be understood in the context of everything else.”
Has this already happened in the past regarding Israel’s plans?
Yes, in 2012, the Obama administration leaked Israel’s defense plans in the region, shaking confidence among allies. At the time, no one was held accountable, but if some of the officials themselves are involved, this policy of permissiveness towards leaking information about inconvenient Israeli operations has an ideological framework that goes far beyond a single official or a few Generation Z activists who they take too much responsibility. Ariane Tabatabai was certainly part of this cadre that migrated through administrations and in the process received public support and reception from various organizations and media in the United States. Tabatabai is the most convenient suspect, but not the only one, as it is unlikely that she directly used her device and incriminated herself. He is more likely to be part of a hierarchy involved in the “strategic leak” process, whether or not that leak had the final approval of senior members of the administration.
What stage are the current investigations at?
«The FBI and the Defense Intelligence Agency are also investigating Christopher Maier, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations, as a potential source of leaked highly classified documents regarding Israeli military preparations for the attack on Iran. It is hardly a coincidence that an official whose security clearance should have been revoked after being caught following directives from hostile foreign governments is just one of the suspects in this context.”
It seems clear that there is a big problem within the American administration to the point that dozens of Biden’s collaborators have resigned or have written letters against Israel and in favor of Hamas, Gaza and pro-Iran policies. Is that so?
« Yes. Their ideological tendencies and their willingness to publicly challenge their employers are not a flaw, but a feature of the functioning of the administration. The more “moderate” faction of the Biden team has been constantly surrounded by the much more radical Obama aides and the new generation of even more extremist aides who have been raised to be activists, rather than implementers of policies for the branch. executive. Personal ego and ideological fervor drove these people into the administration precisely so they could freely implement their vision, and when senior leaders were less idealistic or didn’t go far enough, the activist guerrilla mentality pushed some of these collaborators to follow their instincts. Given this framework, the fact that many people fail to distinguish between zealously defending U.S. interests and advancing the insidious agenda of hostile foreign governments should not be surprising. To them, Biden’s agenda is indistinguishable from Iran – or should be, at least according to their worldview. Maier is another type of person who probably believes he can make a career by pandering to the more radical elements in the administration and taking this ideology one step further than official instructions. Public scrutiny of such individuals is embarrassing to the Biden team and calls into question their counterintelligence, practices, policies and vision. However, it also raises the question of whether Ariane Tabatabai was hired to continue doing damage as part of the plan, and it is only the fact that she has been caught again that now forces an intervention.”
@reproduction reserved
