Report: Trump’s Russia Intel Disclosure Risks Life Of Israeli Spy Within ISIS

A masked Islamic State militant speaks next to U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff in this still image from a video authenticated by the White House. Image by Reuters

By Aiden Pink May 17, 2017

President Trump’s decision to share highly classified intelligence about an ISIS plot with Russian officials last week endangered the life of an Israeli spy embedded within the terror organization, ABC News reported Tuesday.

The information, which was provided by Israel to U.S. intelligence, was about an ISIS plan to blow up an airplane with a bomb hidden inside a laptop in a way that could evade airport security, ABC reported, citing current and former U.S. officials. The terror group killed more than 200 people two years ago when it blew up a Russian airliner with a bomb hidden in a soda can.

National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said Tuesday that the common threat that the U.S. and Russia face from ISIS justified the disclosure. But the former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Matt Olsen, told ABC that the president’s actions were inappropriate.

“Russia is not part of the ISIS coalition,” he said. “They are not our partner.”

Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro warned ABC that the incident would “inevitably cause elements of Israel’s intelligence service to demonstrate more caution” when sharing intelligence with its chief ally.

This may already be happening: Danny Yatom, the former head of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence organization, told CBS News that Israel “will think twice before conveying very sensitive information.”

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink.

Aiden Pink is the Deputy News Editor for the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO