Media Blackout on Leaked U.S. Intelligence Docs

Media refuse to publish documents on Israel's preparations for Iran strike, opting to paraphrase them instead — and missing key details.

Publish no evil

Not a single major media outlet has published the two leaked U.S. intelligence reports detailing Israel’s preparations for a potential strike on Iran. That’s why we published them. I’m not just tooting my horn — it’s pointing to a real crisis in journalism.

Several outlets even seem proud of aligning themselves with the national security state, touting their refusal to make the records public or to even quote directly from them — even as they (often incorrectly) paraphrased their contents. 

“CNN is not quoting directly from or showing the documents,” the outlet said in its Sunday article on the leaked documents.

“ABC News is not quoting directly from or showing the documents,” the outlet said in its own article.

Telling readers to Just Trust Us to paraphrase the underlying documents faithfully is media paternalism at its worst. The Washington media are a poor judge of what people outside of their orbit are interested in. But it is not only that. They can also be flat out wrong.

They often are not reliable reporters on issues of national security, a notoriously complex subject. Consider the reports on the leaked intelligence reports, which major outlets like the AP incorrectly attributes to the NSA. The likely reason for this is that the media often just base their reporting on each other, creating an echo chamber. Other major outlets echoed AP’s mistake, presumably playing out this cycle.

Clear markings on both documents indicate that the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) produced them.

Screenshot of leaked U.S. intelligence report

Leaked report identifying NGA point of contact

And while reporting did mention the NGA, even the New York Times mischaracterized the agency’s work, which it reduced to just satellite work.

It is wrong to say that NGA only analyzes satellite imagery. It deals with imagery from multiple sources including aircraft and drones. The use of the “RSEN” marking in the document — risk sensitive — is not redundant with “TK” — talent keyhole — the latter referring to satellites. The RSEN marking refers to imagery products from “especially sensitive imaging capabilities and exploitation techniques,” according to the Director of National Intelligence.

Screenshot of leaked report

It would be wrong to say that the Israeli exercise report is limited by imagery. Though it clearly deals with NGA observations at Hatserim airfield, it is also informed by Israeli “foreign government information” (FGI ISR) and NSA signals intelligence (“SIGINT reporting”). That our spying on Israel is informed by intelligence furnished to us by Israel is ironic and seems noteworthy, though none of the reporting even mentions it. As for the NSA spying on Israel, we reported on those efforts here.

The intelligence report also says that Israel placed “concealment screens” over aircraft shelters to hide the specific activities it was conducting, both to conceal from Iranian and Russian reconnaissance — but also from the United States. Such practices are common, but isn’t it an intriguing detail worthy of mention?

“Golden Horizon” and “Rocks” air-launched ballistic missiles were handled at Hatserim airfield, the GEOINT analysts at NGA say, but to put this in context context, they also reported that air-to-surface missiles were handled at Ramat David airfield and Ramon airfield as well, pointing to the larger scope of Israeli preparation. No one has mentioned that the United States does not deploy an air-launched ballistic missile of similar design.

“Covert UAV operations” were observed on October 15, the NGA says, indicating that Israel’s RA-01 stealth drone was initiating a flight or returning from one, likely over Iran. Israel is flying stealth (covert) drones over Iran? That’s a story in itself. This would be a capability similar to the U.S. RQ-170/180 drones, which are super secret and barely ever mentioned in the U.S. media. But they are known to operate out of Chabelley airfield in Djibouti. Are they overflying Israel to take a look and thwart its “concealment” methods?

The documents are themselves newsworthy, not just because they were leaked.

As with science, journalism works best when the information being debated is publicly available and can be audited. There needs to be a Copernican revolution for the news, where media revolves around the source materials and expertise instead of other media’s commentary. That is the kind of shift we are trying to bring about in this newsletter in our small way. I hope you’ll support our efforts by subscribing.

— Edited by William M. Arkin