GOP rep vows to do 'all that I can' to uncover anonymous U.S. 'official' that fed AP missile story

A North Carolina congressman is vowing to work to uncover the identity of a nameless U.S. official that fed an erroneous Associated Press story regarding a purported Russian missile strike last week. 

That story, published by the Associated Press on Nov. 15, alleged that a Russian missile strike crossed over into Poland and killed two Polish citizens. It cited a "senior U.S. intelligence officer" as the basis for that claim. 

The missile was ultimately discovered to have been an accidental strike from Ukrainian forces. The AP subsequently fired the report's author, James LaPorta.

Now North Carolina GOP Rep. Dan Bishop is declaring his intent to find the identity of the nameless "intelligence officer" whose claim, Bishop suggested, could have led to "world war."

"We need to know who made and spread this assessment," Bishop said on Twitter on Tuesday. "I will do all that I can to figure it out."

Bishop in making the declaration pointed to a report by the Washington Post on the circumstances surrounding the AP article's publication.

The Post reported having viewed internal deliberations between AP staffers, with one editor ultimately voting to publish the story, stating: “I can’t imagine a U.S. intelligence official would be wrong on this.”