Washington — In the week before an Iranian retaliatory strike that killed six American service members in Kuwait as the U.S.-Israeli war with Tehran began, Iranian intelligence was likely able to identify and track U.S. forces moving off military installations as a part of the Pentagon’s force protection plan. The troops had moved in anticipation of the preemptive strikes on Iran, according to a U.S. Army Central memo reviewed by CBS News.
U.S. Army Central is a component of U.S. Central Command, the primary unit conducting operations against Iran. Its memo said that the U.S. had determined that Iranian-aligned militia groups used a combination of intelligence capabilities to monitor U.S. troop movements.
Smaller quad-copter drones were seen flying around the Shuaiba port in Kuwait and were suspected of conducting reconnaissance ahead of the drone strike attack, according to three U.S. military officials, speaking under condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media outlets.
A day after the six Americans were killed on March 1, U.S. forces recovered GPS transponders connected to balloons or parachutes near Patriot Missile Defense Systems. It’s unclear what these transponders were used for or if they played a role in the drones launched by Iran.
CBS News did not obtain the Army Central memo, but reviewed it and independently verified the authenticity of the contents. The document seen by CBS News did not have classification markings attached. The memo sought to pass information up from Army Central to higher command.
CBS News is withholding the publishing of information that concerns current force protection measures designed to protect U.S. troops following the March 1 attack.
U.S. Army Central referred questions to U.S. Central Command, which did not reply.
In a joint news conference at the Pentagon Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefed the media on U.S. military operations against Iran, dubbed Operation Epic Fury.
Hegseth explained that before launching major combat operations, the Defense Department prioritized protection of U.S. troops above everything else.
“As we built up offensive combat power, we moved the vast majority of American troops — over 90% of Americans that were on our bases — what we say off the X, out of the range of Iranian fire,” Hegseth told reporters.
CBS News has learned that the six Americans killed in the tactical operations center at the Shuaiba port in Kuwait were located there as a part of the “get off the X” plan explained by Hegseth. In military parlance, “X” signifies a target, and “get off the X” means moving away from a dangerous location where a service member could be targeted or attacked.
U.S. troops were moved off of Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. One U.S. military official said that the plan to move “off the X” was a good idea, but unfortunately, the “X” moved with some of the service members without their knowledge.
Three U.S. military officials told CBS News that the tactical operations center at the Shuaiba port in Kuwait was a Continuity of Operations Tactical Operations Center, known as a COOP TOC, a backup command post that can take over operations if the main tactical operations center is destroyed, evacuated or unable to function.
While the existing structure had been there for years for port operations, it was repurposed for the Defense Department’s Iran offensive. Three U.S. military officials said it was the same plan executed during the 12-day war last year between Israel and Iran.
This particular operations center and its defenses were commonplace during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Trailers or cargo containers were surrounded by T-walls, which are steel-reinforced concrete barriers that could provide protection from mortars and rockets, but not from aerial attacks.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell disputed CBS News’ reporting, arguing the center was a “secure facility” and “was fortified with 6-foot walls.”
On Tuesday, CBS News reported that prior to the attack, there were discussions about whether the location should be used as a secondary operations center because it concentrated too many U.S. troops in a location that was not defendable from threats from the sky. Despite a recommendation that the location should not be used, ground leaders decided to use it anyway.
Military officials also said that the warning siren that alerts service members to an incoming aerial attack had worked all week before the deadly strike, but in prior incidents, some of the drones were already inside the base before the siren sounded. Service members did not recall if the warning siren activated before the drone struck the center.
Officials on the groundat the operations center had made requests for additional Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems near the port to defend against incoming drones. It’s unclear why those additional resources were not provided. One official told CBS News that the port had no drone defeat capability.
Officials also said there were no American defense systems at Shuaiba port that could be used to bring down incoming drones or other deadly munitions. Kuwait had interceptors in the vicinity, but it’s unclear if those were employed.
“You have air defenses, and a lot’s coming in, and you hit most of it,” Hegseth said during a news conference at the Pentagon. “Every once in a while, you might have one, unfortunately, we call it a squirter, that makes its way through. And in that particular case, it happened to hit a tactical operations center that was fortified, but these are powerful weapons.”
The Pentagon identified those killed as Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien, Capt. Cody Khork, Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, and Sgt Declan Coady, who was posthumously promoted from specialist. It said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan is “believed to be” the sixth soldier who was killed. All six were from the 103rd Sustainment Command based in Des Moines.
The Defense Department has been exploring ways to harden positions and counter drones ever since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine conflict four years ago. Hegseth created Joint Interagency Task Force 401 to help accelerate the Pentagon’s counter-drone efforts.
In January, the task force released a playbook to aid military installation commanders in their efforts to secure their assets from drones. Recommendations included protective netting to capture or trigger the early detonation of incoming drones, along with reinforced overhead cover.
Army Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, the director of the task force said: “Whether it’s a forward operating base, an outdoor concert venue or a stadium hosting the World Cup, the principles of risk assessment and physical protection outlined in this guide remain the same.”
Elliot Ackerman, a U.S. Marine veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan and CBS News contributor, underscored the need to learn from these tragic incidents.
“The threat that drones play on the battlefield is new and real, as we’ve seen in Ukraine and are now seeing in Iran. In every war, tactics change. This war will be no different,” said Ackerman. “What’s important is to adapt and stay ahead of those changes.”
