The Pentagon’s senior leadership went into a “panic” after classified US documents leaked online and decided to limit intelligence sharing. On this subject writing The Washington Post (WP), citing sources.
According to one of the newspaper’s interlocutors, the new restrictive measures were extremely strict. As a European intelligence official told WP, Washington could restrict its allies’ access to future intelligence reports.
According to WP, the United States shares information with its close allies, namely the Five Eyes Alliance – in addition to the United States, this includes the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
According to the newspaper, US officials were “stunned” and “furious” by the leak, as the leaked documents contained vast amounts of detail about how the United States spied on allies and adversaries.
Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP
The leak also angered Ukraine’s military and politicians as Kiev tried to hide its vulnerabilities from Russia, including an ammunition shortage, a senior Ukrainian official said on condition of anonymity.
Moreover, judging by the leaked documents, the United States is spying on the top military-political leaders of Ukraine, writing The New York Times (NYT). As the newspaper notes, the leak has already complicated relations with allied countries and raised doubts about the United States’ ability to keep its secrets.
What the docs say
A Pentagon source for WP clarified that numerous documents were prepared last winter for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and other senior military officials.
Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
The true extent of the leak is not yet clear, but the Pentagon believes that only the first batch of documents could have been on the network, the newspaper notes. WP has reviewed the content of the documents, here is what they contain:
Reports on the unfolding of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which show how the United States assesses the situation on the battlefield. The analysis in the documents underpins important decisions by US President Joe Biden’s administration, including what weapons should be supplied to Kiev and how to respond to Russia’s strategy in the war zone, the newspaper points out. . Data on LAPIS, an advanced satellite intelligence tool that allows you to better view objects on the ground. As WP notes, information about LAPIS may complicate data collection, as Moscow will object to this system. Information on where the CIA recruited its agents from people with access to the leaders of other states. A report that says Wagner PMC tried to buy weapons from Turkey, a NATO ally. Based on the leak, it follows that in early February 2022, representatives of Wagner met with Turkish representatives “to purchase weapons”. The documents do not specify whether the Turkish authorities were aware of the contacts with the Russian PMC, and also whether these negotiations ended in success. Reports that US intelligence agencies are aware of the internal plans of Russian intelligence services, including the GRU. For example, the documents describe how the GRU plans to conduct a propaganda campaign in African countries to discredit the United States and France, as well as to turn African public opinion against arms sales to Ukraine. An analysis that indicates that China would view the hypothetical Ukrainian attacks deep in Russia as “an opportunity to present NATO as an aggressor”, after which Beijing could step up its support for Russia. Update on North Korea’s nuclear program, including missile testing. Moreover, the documents show that Washington is closely following Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Leaked documents
On April 7, the NYT newspaper reported that secret American documents had been found on the Internet, in particular describing the plans of the United States and NATO to increase support for the Ukrainian army before its counter-offensive of the 1st March. Although the documents do not provide information on how, when or where Kiev plans to launch an offensive, they do contain information on what the Ukrainian military may need for this campaign.
dpa /photo-alliance/TASS
The documents, for example, mentioned the level of expenditure for HIMARS, as well as Ukraine’s military units, their equipment and the training schedule for January-April. In addition, brief information was released on 12 Ukrainian combat brigades, nine of which are said to have received training and weapons from the United States and other alliance countries. According to the leak, six of these nine brigades will be ready by March 31 and the others by April 30.
Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly stated that the Ukrainian armed forces are preparing for a spring counter-offensive. In particular, the head of the country’s Defense Ministry noted that the counteroffensive could take place in April and May.
In the aftermath of the large-scale leak of data on US military assistance to Ukraine, another panoply of secret US documents has appeared on social media. These materials concerned not only Ukraine, but also China and the Middle East. According to the NYT, we are talking about more than 100 documents.
