The secret US government documents had gradually appeared on online platforms such as Discord, Telegram and Twitter. According to the New York Times, they were distributed through pro-Russian channels. Most of the documents relate to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
“We’re still investigating how that happened and how big the problem is,” Meagher said. Among other things, it must be checked “how this type of information is distributed and to whom”. The Pentagon has set up an “inter-agency working group” to study the national security implications of the data leak. The US Department of Justice also launched a criminal investigation.
According to the New York Times, the documents contain information on US and NATO plans to support a Ukrainian military offensive against Russia in the spring. The documents should therefore contain details about weapon deliveries, battalion strength and other sensitive information. A document also summarizes the training plans of twelve Ukrainian combat brigades.
The government is concerned that more documents could surface, said White House spokesman for the National Security Council John Kirby. “We don’t know who is responsible for this. And we don’t know if they have anything else they want to release,” he said. According to Kirby, US President Joe Biden was informed about the leak of documents at the end of last week.
In an interview with ARD, the secretary of the Ukrainian Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, contradicted media reports that Ukraine had changed military plans because of the data leak. The start of the Ukrainian counter-offensive will be decided at the very last moment. “If someone thinks that we only have one option, then that’s not the reality. Even three options wouldn’t be much,” said Danilov.
According to Pentagon spokesman Meagher, however, his ministry is still investigating to what extent the published documents are genuine. The distributed papers were similar in format to those presented by US intelligence agencies to senior policy briefers on Ukraine, Russia and other issues, he said. However, it looks as if some of the documents were falsified before publication. The process has “the potential to spread false information”.
At least one paper seems to have been manipulated in such a way that, contrary to the alleged original, it estimates that Ukrainian losses in the war were higher than those of Russia.
The South Korean government has already said large parts of the leaked documents were fake. After a phone call between the US and South Korean defense ministers, they both came to the conclusion “that a significant number of the documents in question are fabricated,” the presidential office in Seoul said.
Some of the documents are said to show that South Korea is expressing concerns that the US could supply arms to Ukraine in South Korea. This would be a violation of South Korea’s arms export policy, according to which Seoul is not allowed to deliver armaments to war zones.
Some of the documents are also said to point to US spying on allies. One of the documents is said to show that leading employees of the Israeli secret service Mossad support the protests in the country against the Israeli government’s judicial reform.
US officials have been in touch with allies about the documents, US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said, also “to assure them that we are committed to protecting intelligence information and are able to secure our partnerships.”
However, many of the leaked documents can no longer be found on the platforms. According to reports, the US government is working to gradually remove the documents from the networks.
