The number two of the Press Office of the Pentagno Sabrina Singh commented in a note on the story of the dissemination of high-ranking documents and images via social networks and the interagency efforts to unwind the knot of the tangled skein: "Department of Defense Continues to Review and Evaluate the Validity of Photographed Documents Circulating on Social Media Sites that Appear to Contain Sensitive and Highly Classified Material. An interagency effort has been launched, focused on assessing the impact these photographed documents may have on the national security of the United States and our allies and partners.".
By now the omelette is done, it will be hard to get back on top and rebuild the image of the most powerful and influential intelligence apparatuses in the world.
The documents appeared online last month on the social media platform Discord. The posts refer to photos of crumpled documents propped up in magazines and surrounded by other random objects. It looks as if they had been hastily folded up and stuffed into a pocket before being removed from a safe place, a source familiar with such documents told CNN.
The containment measures
As an immediate measure, the Pentagon has restricted the number of users authorized to view and process high-ranking documents. The Joint Staff (our Defense Staff) is examining the distribution lists of the personnel who receive the offending reports. Many of the documents circulated on the net belong to J2 - the intelligence division. Meanwhile, the Justice Department has launched an investigation into the matter.
Allied reactions
Diplomats from some of the countries told CNN that it is frustrating and damaging to the reputation of the United States to see such information exposed so publicly. US allies are conducting damage assessments, trying to determine whether any of their sources or methods were compromised in the leak.
"We expect the United States to share the damage assessment with us in the coming days, but we can't wait, we will do our investigation anyway." said an official from a country that is part of the Five Eyes (intelligence community which includes United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom).
CNN viewed the documents
CNN reviewed 53 leaked documents, all produced between mid-February and early March.
A document reveals that the United States spied on Zelensky. US intelligence report says Zelensky at the end of February “suggested striking Russian positions in Rostov Oblast“, through the use of drones (thus violating Russian territory).
Another report states that the China could use Ukrainian strikes on targets inside Russia”as an opportunity to make NATO an aggressor and thereby justify its aid to Russia”.
Another document describes a conversation between two senior national security officials South Korean over the country's National Security Council's concerns over a US request for munitions. Officials feared that the supply of the munitions, which the United States would then send to Ukraine, would violate the laws of the South Korea who plan not to provide military aid to countries at war. According to the document, one of the officials then suggested a way to circumvent the rules by selling the ammunition to Poland. The document has aroused strong controversy in Seoul. South Korean officials have told reporters they plan to raise the issue with Washington.
An intelligence report on Israel sparked outrage in Jerusalem. The report, produced by CIA and supplied to Signal Intelligencesays Israel's top intelligence agency, the Mossad, has allegedly encouraged protests against the country's new government, "including several explicit calls to action”. The Israeli prime minister's office responded Sunday morning on behalf of the Mossad, calling the report "false and baseless": “The Mossad and its senior officials do not and do not encourage agency personnel to participate in anti-government rallies, political rallies or any political activity. The Mossad and its service personnel did not address the issue of demonstrations at all and devoted themselves only to the value of the state-serving agency that has guided the Mossad since its inception.".
However in the document, entitled "Israel: Pathways to Providing Lethal Aid to UkraineJerusalem is said to consider providing lethal aid to Ukraine under mounting US pressure or following a deterioration in its relations with Russia.
The massive leak also revealed American penetration capability inside the Ministry of Defense of Russia and in the organization mercenary Wagner. Much of the information about Russia has been gathered through intercepted communications. There is now concern that the Russians may change their method of communication.
Even operatives on the ground are now in danger as the maps of Russian troop movements and capabilities come from humint activity.
The documents show that the United States was able to intercept the planes of Russian targeting, in enough detail to know exactly and when the Russians would attack thermal power plants, electrical substations and railway and vehicular bridges in Ukraine.
The US was also able to intercept the Russian strategy to fight NATO tanks which should enter Ukraine soon. The plan "invited the creation of three firing zones based on range - long, medium and short - with each zone covered by specific weapons and unit types."
Top secret documents analyze the Wagner Group which has thousands of militiamen operating in Ukraine. But the documents also deal with Wagner's new recruitment of Russian prisoners to fight in the Ukraine, emphasizing the "continued influence of its leader on Putin” and the group's plans to strengthen its presence in Africa e Haiti.
Friday the spokesman of the Kremlin Dmitry Peskov he told the Galileo Web that "we have not the slightest doubt about the direct or indirect involvement of the United States and NATO in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine”.
"This level of engagement is increasing, it is gradually increasing”, he said. “Let's keep an eye on this process. Of course, it makes the whole story more complicated, but it cannot influence the final outcome of the special operation".
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