{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.fischer.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news?ID=EB690BA6-CBB4-4868-9ED8-9CB6BBD249B4", "Fischer, Colleagues Demand Accountability on Iran-Linked DoD Official", "2023-10-04", "2023", "2023-10", "Republican", "Senate", "NE", "Deb Fischer", "F000463", "www.fischer.senate.gov", "fischer", "https://www.fischer.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, recently joined 30 of her Senate Republican colleagues in a letter demanding a full accounting of actions taken by a senior Pentagon official who has close links to the Iranian government. U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) led the letter.\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 suggested that it is \u201cunconscionable\u201d for Tabatabai to continue holding a sensitive national defense-related position and called for the immediate suspension of her security clearance.\n\n\u201cIran 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,\u201d the Senators wrote.\n\n\u201cWhile we note that Assistant Secretary of Defense for SOLIC Christopher Maier, who is Ms. Tabatabai's current supervisor, testified before the House on Thursday that the Department is \u2018actively looking into whether all law and policy was properly followed in granting my chief of staff top secret special compartmented information,\u2019 we urge you to suspend Ms. Tabatabai's security clearance immediately pending further review, as the State Department did with her former supervisor, Robert Malley,\u201d the Senators continued.\n\nThe Senators also posed a range of questions related to the nature and extent of Tabatabai\u2019s involvement with the Iran-backed initiative, demanding answers within a week of transmitting the letter.\n\nIn addition to Senators Fischer and Wicker, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), John Kennedy (R-La.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), and John Thune (R-S.D.).\n\nRead the full letter here or below.\n\nHonorable Lloyd J. Austin II\n\nSecretary of Defense\n\n1000 Defense Pentagon\n\nWashington, DC 20301-1000\n\nDear Mr. Secretary:\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's image and positions on global security issues - 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's 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's 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's long history of echoing the Iranian regime's talking points. In April 2021, several House members requested a review of Ms. Tabatabai's 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's 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's 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\nOn what date did the Department of Defense learn that Ms. Tabatabai had served as part of the Iranian government-linked Iran Experts Initiative?\n\nOn 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\nHas 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\nWas 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\nOn her Standard Form-86, did Ms. Tabatabai list her contacts with:\n\nFormer Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif;\n\nAcademic Adnan Tabatabai;\n\nMostafa Zahrani, the head of the Iran think tank IPIS; and/or\n\nFormer Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh?\n\nWas Ms. Tabatabai read into any special access programs (SAPs)?\n\nIf so, was she subjected to enhanced security vetting, per SAP security policy, or was she granted a waiver?\n\nIf she was granted a waiver to be read into SAPs, which DoD official approved the waiver?", 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.fischer.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news?ID=EB690BA6-CBB4-4868-9ED8-9CB6BBD249B4"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6061240565031767, "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"}