The Pentagon is seen from a flight taking off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on November 29, 2022 in Arlington, Virginia. (AFP)
After the repercussions of the leaking of dozens of classified documents, the Pentagon confirmed that the leaking of classified American documents poses a “serious” security risk, indicating that it has taken steps to find out the identity of the people who viewed them.
He added in a statement today, Monday, that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was informed of the leaked documents on April 6.
The Pentagon also made it clear that details in the leaked documents could cause loss of life, pointing out that senior officials are communicating with countries around the world to ensure the safety of intelligence work.
He explained that the leaked documents are classified as highly confidential.
The Pentagon also made it clear that the leaked documents are similar to those presented to senior leaders, noting that some of the images in the leaked documents have been modified.
Earlier, two US officials confirmed that the US national security agencies are striving to deal with the repercussions of the leaking of dozens of classified documents, including the impact of these leaks on the exchange of sensitive information between government institutions and on relations with other countries.
Thousands of people have seen it
Two US defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in the report due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the Pentagon was reviewing procedures that govern the scope of circulation of some of America’s most sensitive secrets.
One of the officials also stated that some of the documents were likely available to thousands of people with security clearances from the United States and one of the allied governments, although they are very sensitive, because the information directly affected these two countries.
Secret documents – iStock emoji
The two officials also disclosed that although the leaks were deeply troubling, many of them only provided glimpses of time periods in February and March, according to the dates cited on them, but did not seem to reveal anything about future operations.
“Secret” and “Top Secret”
It is noteworthy that Archyde.com has reviewed more than 50 of these documents, listed under the classifications of “secret” and “top secret”, which first appeared on social media in early March, and claim that they reveal in detail the weaknesses of the Ukrainian army and information about allies of the United States. Among them are Israel, South Korea and Turkey.
These documents did not attract much attention until the New York Times article on them on Friday.
Leaked documents (expressive from iStock)
Archyde.com has not independently verified the authenticity of the documents. U.S. officials said some of them provided battlefield casualty estimates from Ukraine that appeared to have been revised to downplay Russian losses.
The leak was enough of a concern within the Pentagon that it referred the matter to the Justice Department, which opened a criminal investigation into the leaked documents.