US defense examines “worthless” source and consequences of leaked documents | Abroad

The Pentagon said on Sunday it was trying to establish the authenticity of the documents, in addition to assessing the risks the leak could pose to the security of the United States and other countries.

“A collaborative effort has been established between various government agencies to assess the potential impact of these photographic documents on national security and our allies and partners,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said.

US media reports that the documents could be invaluable to Moscow because they show the extent to which US intelligence services were able to penetrate parts of the Russian military.

Some of the documents also contain information related to US allies. For example, the New York Times reported that one showed talks in South Korea about supplying U.S. artillery shells to Ukraine.

In addition to the Defense Department’s analysis, the US Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation into the leak.

The documents were initially circulated through social media platforms Discord and 4chan. U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday they believed Russia or pro-Russian groups were behind the leak. However, many security experts told the news agency on Sunday that they doubted an American was behind it because many of the documents were only in American hands.

Sources told The Washington Post that some of the leaked documents appear to have been altered, including documents citing a much lower number of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine than the official U.S. estimate. Other documents are consistent with reports the CIA distributes to senior White House, Pentagon and State Department officials, the sources said.