Two senior U.S. intelligence officials told The Associated Press that Iran made threats against Fort McNair, the Army base in Washington, D.C., and Army Deputy Chief of Staff Gen. Martin.
U.S. Army Base Fort McNair.
They said communications intercepted by the National Security Agency in January showed that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps discussed a “USS Cole”-style attack on the base, referring to the October 2000 suicide attack in which a small boat docked next to a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Yemeni port of Aden and exploded, killing 17 crew members. dead.
The two officials said intelligence also indicated that they threatened to kill Gen. Joseph M. Martin and planned to infiltrate the base and conduct surveillance on it. The two officials were not authorized to discuss national security issues publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The Fort McNair base is one of the oldest bases in the United States, and Martin’s official residence is located on the base.
Those threats are among the reasons the Army has been pushing for increased security around Fort McNair, which sits near Washington’s bustling, newly developed riverfront area.
The city’s leadership has been opposing the Army’s plan to add a 75-meter to 150-meter (250-foot to 500-foot) buffer zone along the banks of Washington’s Potomac River Gorge, which would limit the Potomac’s busy waterway.
The Pentagon, National Security Council and NSA either did not respond or declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press.
In a virtual meeting in January to discuss the proposed restrictions, Army Maj. Gen. Omar Jones, commander of the Washington military district, cited “credible and specific” threats to military leaders living at the base. The only specific security threat he cited was the arrest of a swimmer who eventually swam to the base.
The two intelligence officials said the intercepted conversations were among members of Iran’s elite Quds Brigade about potential military options to avenge the killing of former Quds Brigade leader Gen. Qassem Soleimani by the United States in Baghdad in January 2020.
They said Tehran’s military commanders are not satisfied with their counterattack so far, especially with the outcome of the Iranian ballistic missile attack on Iraq’s Ain al-Assad airbase within days of Suleimani’s killing. No U.S. service members were killed in that attack, but dozens suffered concussions.
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