After suing the government under the Freedom of Information Act, Judicial Watch has received a transcript of a teleconference in which John Brennan appears to leak serious details about an undercover terrorism operation to the media. CBS News’ Sharyl Attkisson has more.
JudicialWatch received full transcript of a May 7 '12, teleconference between then-White House top counterterror adviser John Brennan…
— Sharyl Attkisson?️♂️ (@SharylAttkisson) December 17, 2013
& various TV terror consultants, in which Brennen reveals that the U.S. and its allies had “inside control over any plot” in its efforts to
— Sharyl Attkisson?️♂️ (@SharylAttkisson) December 17, 2013
thwart a May 2012 terrorism bomb plot. Brennan is now CIA director. –JudicialWatch.
— Sharyl Attkisson?️♂️ (@SharylAttkisson) December 17, 2013
The Brennan revelation of “inside control” – an intelligence community euphemism for spies within an enemy operation…
— Sharyl Attkisson?️♂️ (@SharylAttkisson) December 17, 2013
reportedly helped lead to disclosure of a previously well-kept secret at the heart of a joint U.S.-British-Saudi undercover terrorism op
— Sharyl Attkisson?️♂️ (@SharylAttkisson) December 17, 2013
So, it looks like Brennan, then the White House’s top counterterrorism adviser, let slip to the media that there were spies inside an operation to infiltrate an “underwear bomb” plot emanating from Yemen, as Reuters reported a few days after the teleconference:
The next day’s headlines were filled with news of a U.S. spy planted inside Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), who had acquired the latest, non-metallic model of the underwear bomb and handed it over to U.S. authorities.
At stake was an operation that could not have been more sensitive — the successful penetration by Western spies of AQAP, al Qaeda’s most creative and lethal affiliate. As a result of leaks, the undercover operation had to be shut down.
The initial story of the foiling of an underwear-bomb plot was broken by the Associated Press.
A year later, the Department of Justice launched a probe into the leaks.
In May 2013,DOJ launched a probe of leaks surrounding the thwarted “underwear bomb” terrorist attack. –Judicial Watch
— Sharyl Attkisson?️♂️ (@SharylAttkisson) December 17, 2013
Defending DOJ's seizure of AP phone records, AG Holder described the leaks as “within the two or three most serious leaks I have ever seen.”
— Sharyl Attkisson?️♂️ (@SharylAttkisson) December 17, 2013
Read the Brennan teleconference transcript for yourself: http://t.co/DIgVdVi66p
— Sharyl Attkisson?️♂️ (@SharylAttkisson) December 17, 2013
JudicialWatch asks: is Brennan the leaker that Holder was looking for?
— Sharyl Attkisson?️♂️ (@SharylAttkisson) December 17, 2013
Inside control is supposedly a spy euphemism meaning there's a plant inside the enemy operation.
— Sharyl Attkisson?️♂️ (@SharylAttkisson) December 17, 2013
Brennan has since been promoted to head the CIA. In a statement, Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton concluded, “It is abundantly clear that the Obama White House, in a self-serving attempt to garner favor with the American people over its handling of the ‘underwear bomb,’ blew the cover on a vital covert operation and exposed our agents to serious danger. Edward Snowden, the AP, Fox News and other targets of leak investigations may not be able to understand why Brennan has been able to skate by for this damaging leak.”
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