Leaked US documents may prove deadly, says Pentagon

The US is scrambling to reassure its allies over the leaking of highly sensitive intelligence documents that the Pentagon says presents a ‘very serious’ risk to US national security.

National security spokesman John Kirby and White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre during the daily press briefing on Monday. Picture: AFP

The US is scrambling to reassure its allies over the leaking of highly sensitive intelligence documents that the Pentagon says presents a “very serious” risk to US national security.

The Biden administration is also worried that there may be more documents to come after the steady drip of dozens of photographs of documents found their way to Twitter, Telegram, Discord and other sites.

It is thought some may have circulated online for weeks, if not months, before they began to ­receive media attention last week.

South Korea said on Tuesday that a “significant portion” of the documents indicating concerns in Seoul about arms supplies to Ukraine were fake. Some files ­reportedly show concern among top South Korean national security officials that arms and ammunition manufactured by their country might end up being used in Ukraine – a violation of Seoul’s policy of not selling weapons to nations at war.

South Korean Defence Minister Lee Jong-Sup and US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin agreed overnight on Monday that “a significant number of the documents in question were fabricated”, the presidential office in Seoul said.

The fallout from the apparent leak could be significant – even deadly – potentially putting US intelligence sources at risk while giving the country’s foes valuable information.

“Disclosure of sensitive classified material can have tremendous implications not only for our national security, but could lead to people losing their lives,” said Chris Meagher, assistant to the Defence Secretary.

“We’re still investigating how this happened, as well as the scope of the issue. There have been steps to take a closer look at how this type of information is distributed and to whom.”

The breach, which is being investigated by the Justice Department and the FBI, appears to include secret information on the war in Ukraine as well as sensitive analyses of US allies, whom American officials are now seeking to reassure.

US officials “are engaging with allies and partners at high levels over this, including to reassure them on our commitment to safeguarding intelligence and ability to secure our partnerships”, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said.

The Pentagon also said relevant congressional committees had been informed.

Mr Meagher said a Pentagon team was working to determine if the documents were genuine, but noted that images circulating online seemed to show sensitive ­information.

“Photos appear to show documents similar in format to those used to provide daily updates to our senior leaders on Ukraine and Russia-related operations, as well as other intelligence updates,” he said, but some “appear to have been altered”.

This included a document that seemed to have been changed to make it show Ukraine had suffered higher casualties than Russia, when the apparent original version said the reverse was true.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said President Joe Biden was briefed on the leak “late last week”, but did not provide a specific date.

He said the US government was worried that there may be more documents to come.

“We don’t know who’s responsible for this. And we don’t know if they have more that they intend to post,” Mr Kirby said, adding: “Is that a matter of concern to us? You’re darn right it is.”

Many of the documents are no longer available on the sites where they first appeared.

While many of the documents relate to Ukraine, other files point to US surveillance of its allies, such as one that states that leaders of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency advocated for domestic protests against a controversial judicial reform plan.

The revelation of the purported Ukraine discussions among top national security officials sparked criticism in South Korea about the vulnerability of sensitive sites including the presidential ­office. But President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office pushed back on Tuesday, saying it had “iron-clad security” and that allegations of eavesdropping were “senseless lies”.

AFP amd AGENCIES