The source of the classified intelligence that U.S. President Donald Trump shared with Russian officials in May was information Israel obtained after hacking computers belonging to ISIS, the New York Times reported Monday.
According to the Times, which cited a U.S. official, Israeli "cyberoperators" managed to penetrate an ISIS cell of bombmakers based in Syria a number of months ago.
According to the report, the information was so good that it allowed the United States to learn that the terror cell was working on explosives that could fool airport security by passing as a laptop battery.
The intelligence was shared at a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. The unnamed officials said Israel had previously urged the United States to be cautious with the information. The revelation that Trump shared sensitive intelligence with Russia raises the possibility that the information could be subsequently leaked to Iran.
In January, it was reported that Israeli intelligence officials were concerned that the exposure of classified information to their American counterparts in the Trump administration could lead to it being leaked to Russia and onward to Iran. The intelligence concerns, which had been discussed in closed forums, were based on suspicions of ties between Trump, or his associates, and the government of Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Israel Successfully Hacked ISIS Computers; Trump Leaked It to the Russians, NYT Reports