Those In Close Contact with Iranian Intelligence Should Not Have the Highest Security Clearances

Even if Pentagon analyst Ariane Tabatabai turns out not to have been the source of the leak about US intelligence’s knowledge of Israel’s preparations for an attack on Iran, it was still deeply unwise to have put her in a position where she was privy to such information. The effect of that leak was considerable: Israel, aware that Iran has now learned in detail of its original preparations for an attack, has now delayed its strike on Iran so as to come up alternative plans so that the element of surprise remains.

More on this can be found here: “The Biden Iran Scandal Gets Worse,” National Review, October 22, 2024:

The source of last week’s leak of U.S. intelligence about Israel’s plans to strike Iran, which has occasioned an investigation, isn’t yet known. What should be obvious, though, is that no individual who has had extensive contact with Iranian intelligence and diplomatic officials, and who has deferred to the direction of those officials before, should have ever been put in a sensitive position in the first place.

The most glaring example of its questionable handling of the Iran portfolio is Biden Iran envoy Robert Malley’s continued employment by the State Department amid a probe into his handling of classified materials and the possibility that he shared information with the regime. Though Malley has since been suspended, it’s noteworthy that the administration has opted to technically keep him in the role, no doubt wishing to avoid the political fallout that would come with terminating him.

Possibly worse than Malley’s appointment is that of Ariane Tabatabai, an academic turned State Department and Pentagon official. She was part of the now-infamous Iran Experts Initiative — a program used by Tehran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to cultivate relationships with foreign academics who could carry water for the regime.

At one point, according to reporting from Semafor, which revealed the program’s existence, Tabatabai opted to skip a conference in Israel after an Iranian official instructed her not to go. She also consulted with this same Iranian official regarding how she should testify in hearings before Congress. Her job today — chief of staff to the Pentagon official who oversees special operations….

A former citizen of Iran, Ariane Tabatabai, who before her appointment had been known to have had close contact with Iranian intelligence and diplomatic officials when she took part in the “now-infamous Iran Experts Initiative—a program used by Tehran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to cultivate relationships with foreign academics who could carry water for the regime,” now works at the Pentagon, where she has the highest level of security clearance, that gave her access to American intelligence reports on Israeli preparations for attacking Iran. She was previously Chief of Staff to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations, and was promoted last month to Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Education and Training. If she was willing to help a sinister propaganda effort for the Islamic Republic, by cultivating foreign academics who might be persuaded to speak up for the regime, why would she not use her access to American intelligence reports in order to alert Tehran to Israel’s plans for attacking Iran?

Why was Tabatabai appointed to such a sensitive job, that gave her access to state secrets that might, if made known to Tehran, help it to prepare against attack? Does it make sense to allow such a person access to American intelligence about Israeli plans to attack Iran? Why wouldn’t an “Iranian patriot,” even if she opposed, or claimed to oppose, the regime in Tehran (and the help she gave to the Iran Experts Initiative suggests she has in the past been willing to help that regime), still want to warn her original countrymen about impending strikes? She could rationalize such a move as not intended to help the Iranian regime but to save the lives of innocent Iranians.

So far, the Defense Department has said it has no evidence that Tabatabai was the source of the leak about Israel’s attack plans, but the matter is still under investigation and few would be surprised if, in the end, she turned out to be the source. Even if Tabatabai is declared innocent, she ought to be moved to a job not requiring a security clearance, where she will no longer be in a position to access state secrets. And the same ought to apply to all Muslims who are being considered for jobs requiring the highest level of security. They should not be put in positions where they have access to such sensitive materials. We have no way of knowing which Muslims will be loyal to America, and which — despite their protestations — will be loyal to Islam. How many “moderate” Muslims have turned out to subsequently have been “radicalized,” or perhaps they had been “radicalized” all along, and had just been practicing taqiyya to fool the credulous Infidels?