CNN later confirmed that US government officials are now searching for the second leaker (though „second“ may not be accurate either…), more or less confirming what many people had been suspecting. Meanwhile, the „scoop spoiling“ by the federal government actually resulted in a semi-apology from the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) who gave the scoop to the AP. The NCTC claimed it had been working with the AP on a story for a while, and after seeing what The Intercept was doing, felt it needed to give them the heads up, though it also says it could have handled the situation better.