{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.budd.senate.gov/2023/10/02/budd-joins-letter-demanding-accountability-on-iran-linked-dod-official/", "Budd Joins Letter Demanding Accountability on Iran-Linked DOD Official", "2023-10-02", "2023", "2023-10", "Republican", "Senate", "NC", "Ted Budd", "B001305", "www.budd.senate.gov", "budd", "https://www.budd.senate.gov/category/news/press-releases/page/", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2014 Senator Ted Budd (R-NC) has co-signed a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin demanding a full explanation and accountability regarding a senior Pentagon official who has close links to the Iranian government.\n\nAriane Tabatabai, the chief of staff to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict, was reportedly engaged in an Iranian government-linked initiative to bolster the Iranian government\u2019s image and reinforce Tehran\u2019s national security views. Leaked emails show Tabatabai asking the Iranian government for input on her speaking engagements and offering to consult with the Iranian government on a congressional briefing that she was invited to give.\n\nIn the letter, the senators called for the immediate suspension of Ms. Tabatabai\u2019s security clearance.\n\nThe letter was led by Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) and signed by a total of 30 senators.\n\nRead the full letter here:\n\nWe are concerned that an individual who allegedly served as part of an Iranian Foreign Ministry information operation is currently serving in a senior Department of Defense position. We urge you to take immediate action to ensure that the Department has not been compromised.\n\nOn Tuesday, September 26, Semafor reported that Ariane Tabatabai, who currently serves as chief of staff to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict (SOLIC), was part of a so-called Iran Experts Initiative that \u201csenior Iranian Foreign Ministry officials initiated [in] a quiet effort to bolster Tehran\u2019s image and positions on global security issues \u2013 particularly its nuclear program.\u201d\n\nAccording to communications that Semafor reviewed, Ms. Tabatabai agreed to join the Iranian government-linked Initiative in early 2014, after meeting a Germany-based Iranian diplomat in Prague. On at least two occasions, Ms. Tabatabai \u201cchecked in with Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry before attending policy events.\u201d The report details one occasion in which an Iranian think tank chief, who acted as an apparent liaison to the Iranian Foreign Minister, dissuaded Ms. Tabatabai from participating in a conference in Israel when she asked for his feedback. The report also indicates that Ms. Tabatabai potentially sought the Iranian government\u2019s input on a congressional briefing that she was invited to give in July 2014.\n\nConcerns about Ms. Tabatabai are not new. In March 2021, shortly after Ms. Tabatabai was appointed senior adviser in the Office of the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, Iranian dissidents noted Ms. Tabatabai\u2019s long history of echoing the Iranian regime\u2019s talking points. In April 2021, several House members requested a review of Ms. Tabatabai\u2019s security clearance. In response, the Biden administration dismissed these allegations as \u201csmears and slander.\u201d\n\nThe latest allegations reported in Semafor, however, indicate that Ms. Tabatabai may have been engaged in a relationship with the Iranian regime well beyond what even her strongest critics alleged. The fact that the Department initially responded to these latest allegations by rushing a full-throated defense of Ms. Tabatabai, rather than taking the time to ensure that our national security has not been compromised, suggests that you are protecting hiring missteps rather than prioritizing national security.\n\nIran continues to threaten U.S. military personnel in the Middle East and remains intent on assassinating American citizens here in the United States. Given these facts, we find it simply unconscionable that a senior Department official would continue to hold a sensitive position despite her alleged participation in an Iranian government information operation. While we note that Assistant Secretary of Defense for SOLIC Christopher Maier, who is Ms. Tabatabai\u2019s current supervisor, testified before the House on Thursday that the Department is \u201cactively looking into whether all law and policy was properly followed in granting my chief of staff top secret special compartmented information,\u201d we urge you to suspend Ms. Tabatabai\u2019s security clearance immediately pending further review, as the State Department did with her former supervisor, Robert Malley.\n\nIn addition, we ask that you provide answers to the following questions no later than October 6:\n\n1. On what date did the Department of Defense learn that Ms. Tabatabai had served as part of the Iranian government-linked Iran Experts Initiative?\n\n2. On what date was Ms. Tabatabai granted a security clearance, and what was the sponsoring agency that made the determination to grant Ms. Tabatabai a security clearance?\n\n3. Has Ms. Tabatabai\u2019s security clearance been subjected to a periodic reinvestigation and, if so, on what date was Ms. Tabatabai\u2019s most recent periodic reinvestigation completed?\n\n4. Was Ms. Tabatabai subjected to any additional counterintelligence screening, to include a polygraph investigation, as part of her security clearance investigation or any subsequent review of her eligibility to hold a security clearance or access restricted or special access information?\n\n5. On her Standard Form-86, did Ms. Tabatabai list her contacts with:\n\na. Former Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif;\n\nb. Academic Adnan Tabatabai;\n\nc. Mostafa Zahrani, the head of the Iran think tank IPIS; and/or\n\nd. Former Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh?\n\n6. Was Ms. Tabatabai read into any special access programs (SAPs)?\n\na. If so, was she subjected to enhanced security vetting, per SAP security policy, or was she granted a waiver?\n\nb. If she was granted a waiver to be read into SAPs, which DoD official approved the waiver?\n\nThank you in advance for your attention to this urgent matter.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:43:12Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.budd.senate.gov/2023/10/02/budd-joins-letter-demanding-accountability-on-iran-linked-dod-official/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7301329169422388, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}