Massive Leak of Confidential American Documents Raises Concerns for National Security

This could be one of the worst leaks of confidential information since the Snowden affair. According to US authorities, the security of the United States is at “very serious” risk after the massive leak of classified documents related to the war in Ukraine. What do we know about the extent of these leaks? What are these documents and why is their dispersion on the web a matter of concern? La Dépêche explains to you.

What we know about these documents

Among these documents, whose online leak was revealed on Thursday April 6 by the New York Timesone takes stock of the state of the conflict in Ukraine at the beginning of March, others evoke the situation on specific fronts, such as Bakhmout, or the crucial anti-aircraft defenses of kyiv.

Some also seem to indicate intelligence gathering carried out by the United States and targeting some of its allies: a document mentions, for example, that leaders of the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, would have defended the demonstrations against the controversial reform of the judicial system in Israel.

AFP consulted certain documents marked “secret” or “top secret”, without being able to confirm their authenticity.

The steady stream of photographs of classified documents have been discovered on Twitter, Telegram, Discord and other platforms in recent days, although some may have circulated online for weeks before attracting media attention. Many of them are no longer available on the sites where they originally appeared, and US authorities are reportedly working to have them all removed.

Are we certain that these documents are authentic?

Defense Department spokesman Chris Meagher said a team was working to determine if the documents were genuine, and noted that in any event, the photos released appeared to contain sensitive information.

“Photos appear to show documents in a format similar to that used to provide daily updates to our senior Ukraine and Russia-related operations, as well as other intelligence updates,” he said. he says, but some “seem to have been edited.”

At least one of the documents seems to have been altered to suggest that Ukraine suffered greater losses than Russia, when the supposed original said the opposite.

Why do these leaks represent a risk for the United States?

This massive leak is causing growing concern in the Biden administration. “We don’t know who is responsible for this. And we don’t know if they have more (documents) to post” online, explained John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council attached to Joe Biden, before to add: “Is this a matter of concern for us? Absolutely.”

The fact that these documents are circulating online represents “a very serious risk to national security and can potentially fuel disinformation”, Chris Meagher told reporters on Monday.

“We are continuing to investigate how this happened, as well as the extent of the problem. Steps have been taken to further analyze how this type of information was distributed and to whom.” he added. “The release of classified and sensitive information can not only have enormous consequences for our national security, but also lead to death,” warned Chris Meagher.

What is the reaction of Americans?

Also according to Chris Meagher, the United States “continues to investigate how this happened, as well as the extent of the problem. Steps have been taken to further analyze how this type of information was distributed and to whom”.

U.S. officials have also reached out to Washington’s allies about the matter, “including to reassure them of our commitment to protecting intelligence and our ability to secure our partnerships,” U.S. diplomacy spokesman Vedant said. patel.

The relevant parliamentary committees have been informed, the Pentagon had earlier indicated. The Justice Department has opened a separate criminal investigation.