Israel’s security agency, the Shin Bet, revealed on Tuesday that it had investigated over 20 separate incidents of classified information leaks over the past year as part of its official response to the arrest of a security official suspected of sharing information with unauthorized individuals.
In a statement, the Shin Bet said that the number represents a sharp increase in such incidents where “defense establishment employees leak classified material from security organizations and their information systems.”
The goal of the agency’s investigations was to “prevent the leaking of classified information to unauthorized personnel, in a manner that may endanger the security of the State of Israel,” the statement read.
On Tuesday, it was revealed that a Shin Bet official was arrested by the Israel Police. In response to the arrest, the agency noted that the employee “abused his security role and direct access to Shin Bet information systems to take classified information and transfer it to unauthorized parties on several occasions and in a secret manner.”
The Shin Bet launched an internal probe into the suspect’s actions, which found that the leaks were “routine” and obtained in a “manner that jeopardizes security,” adding that they were carried out “in contrary to the law and the rules to which the organization employees are bound.”
Shin Bet: We did not tap into journalists' phones
Furthermore, the security agency stressed that “at no point were journalists interrogated, were they required to provide testimony as part of the investigation, nor were any journalists’ phones tapped.”
The lawyers of the Shin Bet official suspected of leaking information revealed there were two leaks in question.
The suspect, who the lawyers said had served in the Shin Bet for decades with dedication and professionalism, admitted to the leaks but claimed that he had “conveyed information of immense public importance with the intention of bringing it to public attention while ensuring that no security-related information was disclosed.”
Eliav Breuer contributed to this report.