Famed journalist and Pulitzer prize winner Seymour Hersh, who for decades was a star reporter writing for and  on Wednesday published a new bombshell as his first Substack post, prompting a quick White House response

After conducting his own investigation into who sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines via a series of underwater blasts on Sept. 26, Hersh has concluded the United States blew up the Russia-to-Germany natural gas pipeline as part of a covert operation under the guise of the BALTOPS 22 NATO exercise.

Hersh, relying on unnamed national security sources, describes months of discussions and back-and-forth involving the Biden White House, CIA, and Pentagon. The report says planning was in the works all the way back to December 2021, with a special task force formed under the aegis of US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

"The Navy proposed using a newly commissioned submarine to assault the pipeline directly. The Air Force discussed dropping bombs with delayed fuses that could be set off remotely. The CIA argued that whatever was done, it would have to be covert. Everyone involved understood the stakes," the report, entitled  reads.

"The Biden Administration was doing everything possible to avoid leaks as the planning took place late in 2021 and into the first months of 2022," it continues.

As momentum gained to proceed with a covert sabotage attack, "Over the next few weeks, members of the CIA's working group began to craft a plan for a covert operation that would use deep-sea divers to trigger an explosion along the pipeline," Hersh writes.

But there was significant push back within the intelligence community, but any reservations were overcome in the lead-up and aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. According to the investigative report: 

Not going to wade into debates over the sourcing and reporting here, but it is without a doubt a bit odd how this whole story quietly went away once it became clear it didn't make any sense as an act of Russian sabotage https://t.co/yo2RNBCTAS

-- Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) February 8, 2023

As for Washington motives in such a risky covert sabotage mission, Hersh writes, "As long as Europe remained dependent on the pipelines for cheap natural gas, Washington was afraid that countries like Germany would be reluctant to supply Ukraine with the money and weapons it needed to defeat Russia."

https://www.youtube.com/embed/oSPfXLPUJHM

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Norway played a significant logistics and intelligence role in assisting an elite US Navy deep-diving team of divers based out of Panama City to carry out the operation: 

Hersh's sources underscore that the order came directly from President Biden's office:

Given that it was Hersh - who broke such well-known stories as the My Lai massacre and Abu Ghraib scandal and has long been known for impeccable insider sources - behind the new bombshell 'whodunnit' report, mainstream media couldn't ignore it this time (in the way MSM ignored Jeffrey Sachs and others).

The mainstream news media is the main source of disinformation today pic.twitter.com/QreqONGS7h

-- Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) February 8, 2023

The allegations were quickly picked up by The Times (UK), Reuters, and others - including Russian state media, prompting the White House to swiftly issue a rebuttal:

Russia's Foreign Ministry says the Hersh report reveals new facts that must be answered to, however, with spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stressing, "We have repeatedly stated Russia's position on the involvement of the United States and NATO, noting that they did not hide it, bragging to the whole world about their intention to destroy the civilian infrastructure through which Europe received Russian energy resources."

She added: "We have also regularly underscored the reluctance of Denmark, Germany and Sweden to conduct an open investigation and the opposition to Russia's participation in it. And this is despite the fact that our country has suffered huge costs. Now, the White House should comment on all these facts."