The US Department of Defense warned, on Thursday, top Pentagon authorities, involved in the January 3 assassination of Iranian Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, faced security threats in and outside the U.S.
Security information has intersected with the CIA and the FBI and has revealed the existence of retaliatory threats since September 22nd targeting senior leadership who are involved in the operation of killing Soleimani.
The briefings of FBI, CIA, and military officials on the threat took place after an incident on the evening of Sept. 22 involving a senior leader at the Defense Department, according to officials.
The Defense Department leader had an accident last September when he left the Pentagon in a government-owned black SUV driven by a member of his security detail, as an Iranian national, who was in a vehicle with Virginia license plates, tracked his car after leaving for about seven miles driving aggressively.
Following the investigations, the FBI refused to link it to an Iranian plot, according to what officials said that night, as they stated that the results of the Pentagon investigation contradicted the findings of the FBI investigators.
On his part, Chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman mentioned that they deeply care about the security of its workers.
“The Department of Defense takes seriously the safety of all of our personnel,” Hoffman stated. “We will not discuss intelligence regarding potential threats to senior leaders nor the range of force protection measures we have in place to address these threats.”
"Security measures [are decided] on a case-by-case basis in coordination with appropriate U.S. and host nation law enforcement officials to protect our hosts, traveling officials, their support staff and accompanying media,” he also said for international travel by Defense Department officials. “We are constantly evaluating the threat environment.”
The CIA and FBI declined to comment.
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