Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham are demanding to know who at U.S. Central Command was responsible for briefing the media on detailed operational plans to retake Mosul from the Islamic State and whether anyone at the White House signed off on the disclosure.
An unidentified U.S. Central Command official briefed reporters Thursday on the upcoming mission in Mosul, which is set to begin in April or May and will involve as many as 25,000 Iraqi and Kurdish security forces and may also include a limited number of U.S. advisers.
Some 2,000 Islamic State fighters are occupying the northern city of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city with more than one million people.
Calling the stories about the reporters’ briefing “disturbing,” McCain and Graham said such a deliberate and public disclosure of detailed information about a military mission is virtually unprecedented in modern history.
“Never in our memory can we recall an instance in which our military has knowingly briefed our own war plans to our enemies,” wrote McCain of Arizona and Graham of South Carolina.
“These disclosures not only risk the success of our mission, but could also cost the lives of U.S., Iraqi, and coalition forces,” they continued.
Because the impact of the disclosures may have serious repercussions on the viability of the mission, the GOP pair demanded to know the identify of the Centcom official who briefed the media and whether the person had prior approval from the White House to divulge the information.
“Those responsible have jeopardized our national security interests and must be held accountable,” they wrote.
White House National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said the White House was not involved in any decisions regarding the Centcom briefing with reporters.
“The U.S. military makes a judgment about what information is shared regarding their operations,” said Meehan. “The White House was not involved in the briefing in question. We’d refer you to the Department of Defense for further questions.”
A Centcom spokesman said its leadership is aware of the senators’ concerns and that the White House had no involvement in the briefing.
“The Defense Department will respond appropriately to those concerns, and in an expeditious manner,” he said in an emailed statement. “There was no White House involvement in — or prior knowledge of — the background briefing in question”
The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.Earlier Friday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the Department of Defense conducted the reporter briefings so he’s “not in a position” to confirm the accuracy of the mission’s details.
Still, Earnest didn’t seem surprised or concerned that Centcom broadcast the details of the mission two to three months before it’s scheduled to begin.
“The Department of Defense is working closely with Iraqi security forces to train and equip them and build up their capacity so that they can take the fight on the ground in their country to the ISIL militants that have encroached on their territory,” he said. “So, this will be an effort that will be led by Iraqi security forces.”
While Earnest also would not confirm the spring timing of the offensive, he said it would not begin until the Iraqi forces are ready and noted that U.S.-led coalition airstrikes would back up any mission to retake Mosul.
The president, he said, has yet to determine whether to send in a limited number of U.S. ground troops to help call in the airstrikes but underscored the president’s desire that the Iraqis do their own fighting.
“We believe it is in the best interest of American national security for the Iraqi people and their nation’s military forces to fight for their own country,” Earnest said.
The George W. Bush administration, he argued, tried it a “different way” — “by deploying more than 100,000 U.S. military personnel to go on the ground and engage in sustained offensive combat operations in Iraq.”
“What we found is that the security situation improved dramatically as a result of the courage and effectiveness of American military personnel,” he said. “But what we [also] found was that that solution was not enduring. It did not endure because … there was not sufficient buy-in from the Iraqi people.”
Pressed on whether anyone in the U.S. government let anti-Islamic State coalition partners know that Centcom would be divulging operational details, Earnest said only that the Pentagon takes the responsibility of coordinating with coalition partners “very seriously.”
Media reports about the Mosul offensive also noted that Qatar is serving as a training site for Iraqi and U.S. forces.
Reporters asked Earnest whether Qatar officials knew U.S. officials planned to “out” their role. Earnest responded that he didn’t know if they were “outed.”
“It doesn’t mean that Qatar wasn’t ready to announce it,” he said, before segueing into his own announcement that the Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamin, would be visiting the White House Tuesday.
