US Pentagon says classified document leak ‘serious risk to national security’

US Pentagon says classified document leak 'serious risk to national security'

One of the largest leaks of classified US military documents in a decade has sparked an official investigation by the Department of Defense. Multiple tranches of documents have appeared on social media sites over recent weeks, some of them reportedly intended only for those with the highest levels of US security clearance, according to Bloomberg.

The Pentagon confirmed that the military documents “appear to contain sensitive and highly classified material”, but the defence department has skirted categorical claims over the authenticity of the documents while repeatedly stressing that at least some have been doctored, Aljazeera reports.

The US government is struggling to explain how a 21-year-old man in a junior post was in a position to allegedly access and leak a massive trove of classified documents related to the Ukraine conflict and other matters. Jack Teixeira, a cyber specialist for the US Air Force National Guard, was arrested on April 13 and made his initial court appearance on April 14 in Boston federal court.

According to Reuters, the arrest occurred a week after the leaks first became widely known, setting Washington on edge about the damage they may have caused. The episode embarrassed the U.S. by revealing its spying on allies and purported Ukrainian military vulnerabilities.

The Washington Times said the Pentagon is tightening the scope of who has access to classified information following the embarrassing leaking of military intelligence documents on an online chat platform that has sparked problems with allies and adversaries around the globe.

Investigators began focusing on Teixeira after he was detected using his government computer to search for the word “leak” in a classified intelligence system, an FBI affidavit revealed, according to The Telegraph.

Hundreds of documents were leaked onto a private group on a social platform called Discord beginning in December, but it appears the breach went unnoticed until some of the documents were forwarded to a number of other groups and platforms in early April.

The FBI said billing records on Discord and interviews with another user helped them identify Teixeira, who gave himself the online moniker “jackthedripper”.

According to “The New York Times”, a Discord user matching the profile of Jack Teixeira distributed intelligence to a larger chat group, days after the beginning of the Ukraine war.

Overall, the case is believed to be the most serious U.S. security breach since more than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010. The Pentagon has called the leak a "deliberate, criminal act”, Reuters reports.

The US charged Teixeira with unauthorized transmission and retention of classified material in connection with a massive leak that exposed a variety of intelligence secrets, including maps, and intelligence updates. Teixeira faces at least 15 years in prison if convicted of the charges.

Teixeira was charged with one count of violating the Espionage Act related to the unlawful copying and transmitting of sensitive defense material, and a second charge related to unlawful removal of defense material to an unauthorized location.

He will likely face more charges as additional evidence is presented to a grand jury, legal experts said. A conviction on the Espionage Act charge carries up to 10 years in prison.

What is in the documents?

According to the New York Times and other outlets, the initial document leaks focused on US assessments of the war in Ukraine originally written in February and March, including estimated casualties on both sides and what equipment and ammunition would be required by Kyiv in the future. However, they reported that at least one document appears to have been altered to lower Russia’s death toll in the war and inflate that of Ukraine, raising questions over the reliability of the papers.

Among the more recent leaks, there have also been reports on the US gathering intelligence on its diplomatic allies, including South Korea, Israel and Ukraine, Bloomberg reports.

What have the leaks already revealed?

According to Aljazeera, several leaked documents appear to reveal US espionage tactics in relation to the war in Ukraine. If proven authentic, they show that the US had been monitoring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s calls with defence and military officials. They also reveal apparent weaknesses in the Ukrainian air defence systems and the size of military battalions.

They also suggest that the US had penetrated the Russian military forces and the Wagner Group, a mercenary organisation, much more than previously understood.

Aljazeera reported (12 April) that another purported highly classified Pentagon document reveals Russian operatives were building a closer relationship with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which hosts important US military installations. The UAE rejected the allegations, calling them “categorically false”.

Other leaks have concerned allegations that South Korean leaders were hesitant to ship artillery shells to Ukraine and that Israel’s Mossad spy service opposed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed overhaul of the judiciary.

US intelligence analysts believed a recent military parade in North Korea “probably oversells” the threat its intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) pose to the United States, according to another leaked document.

Where did the leaks originate?

The leak may have started on a site called Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games.

According to Bloomberg, the leaked information has turned up across multiple social media platforms and apps in recent weeks, including Twitter and YouTube. Bellingcat, an independent investigative news outlet, said the documents appeared to have originally been posted on obscure internet sites, including a Minecraft channel on Discord, which is a popular messaging application for fans of computer games.

The documents drew greater attention once they were discovered and posted more broadly to far-right noticeboard 4Chan and pro-Russian messaging groups on the Telegram app.

France24 reported that many of the documents are no longer available on the sites where they first appeared, and the United States is reportedly continuing to work to have them removed. The Pentagon says the breach poses a "very serious risk to national security," and the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the matter.

What has been the US response?

The Pentagon has begun an internal review to assess the leaks’ impact on national security. Officials are also closely monitoring where the leaked slides are “being posted and amplified,” said Chris Meagher, assistant to the US secretary of defense for public affairs, according to Aljazeera.

Separately, the US Justice Department has openeda criminal investigation into how the slides were obtained and leaked.