A forged Pentagon memo circulated on social media this week, falsely stating that more than 100 U.S. service members were killed in an Iranian missile strike.
The strike was launched on Jan. 7 in retaliation for the U.S. hit on Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. In truth, U.S. forces suffered no casualties in the Iranian retaliation strike.
The Jan. 13 letter purported to be from James Hogan, the Pentagon’s Freedom of Information Act chief, and allegedly was written in response to a FOIA appeal from Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.
The forged letter, written on what appeared to be official Pentagon letterhead, listed 139 troops killed and another 146 injured.
Thompson’s office confirmed that the letter was a fake and told the Washington Examiner that the congressman did not file a FOIA request.
“My office has not received a letter from the Dept. of Defense. Nor have I written the Dept. of Defense on this topic. The letter online is fake,” Thompson said in a tweet on Thursday.
Although the perpetrator of the forgery remains unclear, Iran is believed to be responsible.
“It’s trying to make the Soleimani revenge attack look successful,” Mike Pregent, a former intelligence officer who studies Middle East security at the Hudson Institute, told the Washington Examiner.
Pregent said that he believed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was behind the forgery, noting it began surfacing on IRGC-linked social media. He added that it was an attempt to appease hard-line elements within Iran.
Answering a question on the authenticity of this document:
If this was an actual DOD memo – you would see 285 families on U.S. Media 24/7 grieving over the loss of their loved ones.
And
Adam Schiff would add “Killing Soleimani” as an article of Impeachment. pic.twitter.com/sbYphheZcx
— Michael P Pregent (@MPPregent) January 16, 2020
Iran’s cyber and information warfare capabilities have grown in recent years. Following the hit on Soleimani, Iran ramped up its propaganda. In one effort, Iran claimed that Gen. Stephen Townsend, head of U.S. Africa Command, was killed in an al Shabab raid in Kenya. Townsend said on Twitter the claim was “greatly exaggerated.”
In early January, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dismissed claims by Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif that Soleimani was on a diplomatic visit when U.S. forces killed him.
