The fallout is growing from the leak of dozens of secret U.S. military documents that were posted online. Included in the exposure were briefing slides for top officials, along with other highly classified information.
In addition to revealing intelligence on our adversaries, there’s also intel on our allies. Among the most potentially damaging, information on the Ukraine war — secrets, the Biden administration wanted to keep.
“This is information that has no business in the public domain,” said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby during Monday’s White House Briefing.
He admitted the administration doesn’t know how many more documents are out there or who’s behind the breach. For now, the Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation, and the rest of the Biden administration is on damage control.
“The Department of Defense is working around the clock to look at the scope and scale of the distribution, the assessed impact and our mitigation measures. We’re still investigating how this happened, as well as the scope of the issue,” Chris Meagher, assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, told reporters.
“U.S. officials across the interagency are engaging with allies and partners at high levels over this, including to reassure them of our commitment to safeguarding intelligence and the fidelity of securing our partnerships as well,” said State Dept. spokesman Vedant Patel.
The Pentagon expressed concern that some of the leaked intel appears to have been altered, and administration officials have been slow to confirm the validity of the documents.
“As these documents circulate online, I would like to highlight that they present a very serious risk to national security and have the potential to spread disinformation,” said Meagher.
There’s some speculation Russia is behind the leak. The Kremlin, however, has not taken any responsibility, commenting only that it’s common to blame Russia for everything.
“We’re going to get to the bottom of this. And then if there are actions that need to be taken, as we learn more about the extent of what happened here, we’ll obviously take those,” said Kirby.
These leaks represent the most damaging breach of U.S. intelligence in a decade and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are among those demanding answers from the Biden administration.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Tuesday, requested Congress be briefed as the investigation unfolds.
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