White House Counsel To Investigate Leaking Of CIA Chief In Afghanistan's Identity

President Barack Obama's chief of staff, Denis McDonough, has asked the White House counsel to investigate how the name of the top CIA official in Afghanistan was given to the media, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The White House inadvertently included the name on a list of participants in a military briefing with Obama that was distributed to reporters on Sunday during his trip to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. The list of 15 names apparently came first from the military, and was circulated by the White House press office, Fox News reports.

The administration later realized the mistake after a Washington Post reporter asked about it, and issued a revised list. The White House had declined to comment on the incident until Tuesday.

"The chief of staff has asked the White House counsel, Neil Eggleston, to look into what happened and report back to him with recommendations on how the administration can improve processes and make sure something like this does not happen again," White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement reported by Reuters.

CBS News reported at the time that the CIA official will have to leave Afghanistan to avoid retribution from the Taliban, and it's possible he's left the country already, according to intelligence sources.