The Trump administration is planning to reduce the amount of classified information it shares with Congress after an internal assessment was leaked suggesting that recent bombings of Iran’s nuclear facilities were not as successful as President Trump had claimed. According to four sources familiar with the matter, the leak has prompted both outrage and a federal investigation.
The FBI has launched a probe into how the assessment became public. Administration officials were especially angered by the release of the preliminary report from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which they argue was incomplete and misrepresented the impact of the operation. One senior White House official stated, “We are declaring a war on leakers,” emphasizing the administration’s commitment to crack down on unauthorized disclosures.
Officials said they are now working to tighten internal protocols and limit who can access sensitive data. Part of this includes restricting postings on CAPNET, the classified network used to share intelligence with Congress. The leaked DIA report was uploaded to the system on Monday night. By the next day, major news outlets had reported that the U.S. strike may have only set back Iran’s nuclear program by a few months, contradicting the president’s assertion that the sites had been “obliterated.”
Democrats had already expressed frustration with the administration’s refusal to brief certain members of Congress before the strikes. Now, with further limitations on information sharing, tensions are expected to escalate. Despite this, White House officials remain unmoved. One source remarked, “Go figure: Almost as soon as we put the information on CAPNET, it leaks. There’s no reason to do this again.”
Sources close to the situation said they could not provide more specifics about the DIA assessment but stressed a few key points. The report was assembled within 24 hours of the strikes, relying mainly on satellite imagery rather than on-the-ground intelligence. It also came from just one of the 18 agencies that make up the intelligence community and included a disclaimer noting the findings were of “low confidence.” The assessment was intended as an initial guide for decision-making on whether additional strikes would be necessary.
Meanwhile, Israeli intelligence offered a more forceful evaluation, reporting that the strikes caused “very significant” damage to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
President Trump, long distrustful of the intelligence community since his 2016 campaign was scrutinized over ties to Russia, viewed the leak as another example of internal opposition. “Trump knows the IC has spooks who hate his guts,” said one adviser.
Speaking from a NATO summit in Europe, Trump criticized the media’s reporting on the leak, a sentiment echoed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. They reiterated that the coordinated attacks featuring Tomahawk missiles and bunker-busting bombs had indeed inflicted serious damage on Iran’s nuclear facilities, a view shared by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Rubio dismissed the leaked report’s portrayal, saying, “All this stuff about the intelligence: This is what a leaker is telling you the intelligence says. That’s the game these people play. They read it and then they go out and characterize it the way they want to characterize it.”
