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Dept of Defense: Intelligence Showed Iranian "Campaign" of Threats
(Air Force Magazine) Brian Everstine - U.S. Central Command has called for increased intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance to watch over Iranian-backed forces and more air support "in the event of an attack" after intelligence showed a campaign of threats from Iran, top US military officials said May 29. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, speaking to a small group of reporters earlier this month en route to Indonesia, said the undisclosed intelligence of threats showed "an anomaly," calling for a quick response within hours. The resulting U.S. deployments already have made an impact, said Shanahan, noting, "It deterred attacks on our people in Iraq." Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, speaking May 29 at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., said intelligence in recent years has consistently shown a stream of threats emanating from Iran. However, the intelligence earlier this month was different because it showed "multiple threat streams all, perhaps, coming together." There was a "pattern of threats," including in Iraq, in Yemen, and in the Persian Gulf, which have since shown to be accurate with attacks on ships in the Gulf and rocket attacks near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, he said."We saw something that was more like a campaign than an individual threat," Dunford said.