Ariane Tabatabai, outed as a member of the Iran Experts Initiative, will now lead DoD’s ‘force and education training’
The Biden-Harris administration has promoted the senior Pentagon employee who was outed as a member of an Iranian government-run influence operation, Politico reported.
Ariane Tabatabai is now a deputy assistant secretary of defense within Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s office, where she will lead its force education and training division. Tabatabai, according to Politico, was offered the promotion last month. She previously served as chief of staff for the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict.
Tabatabai became a public commodity after a 2023 Semafor report outed her as a member of an Iranian government propaganda group known as the Iran Experts Initiative. The affiliation saw Tabatabai report back to Iran’s foreign ministry and communicate with senior officials in the hardline regime.
Tabatabai’s promotion comes at a curious time for the Biden-Harris administration. Over the weekend, classified U.S. intelligence on Israel’s military preparations for a strike on Iran leaked in a “deadly serious breach,” which the administration is investigating. While the leaker has not been publicly identified, the situation has raised concerns about a host of Biden-Harris administration officials, including Tabatabai, who want to increase diplomacy with Iran at the cost of the historically close U.S. alliance with Israel.
News of Tabatabai’s affiliation with the Iran Experts Initiative sparked multiple congressional investigations, with Republicans raising concerns about Tabatabai’s ability to obtain a top-secret security clearance. The Pentagon and State Department, where Tabatabai formerly worked, have vocally defended her, saying there was nothing in her background that would have disqualified her from accessing classified information.
“Dr. Tabatabai was thoroughly and properly vetted as a condition of her employment with the Department of Defense,” a Pentagon spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon in September 2023, after lawmakers raised concerns about her connections to Iran. “We are honored to have her serve.” One month later, the Pentagon confirmed to lawmakers that Tabatabai would keep her security clearance.
Tabatabai and two others affiliated with the pro-Tehran group served as aides to former Biden-Harris administration Iran envoy Robert Malley, who was suspended from his post amid an ongoing FBI investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified information.
An inspector general report released last month skewered the State Department for its handling of the suspension. The agency, according to the report, allowed Malley to continue accessing classified information and sensitive data after he was disciplined.
“The Department deviated from the way that suspensions are typically delivered by delaying notification to Mr. Malley until senior Department officials were apprised of his suspension,” the report stated. “The delay allowed him the opportunity to participate in a classified conference call after the suspension was approved, but before he was notified.”
