The New York Times confirms that the leaked Pentagon papers are real and there is more out there. Documents concerning China and the Middle East are on the Internet. Russia claims it’s US disinformation.
The classified documents detail American national security secrets from Ukraine, the Middle East, and China. They leaked on social media sites on Friday, including 4chan, Twitter, and Telegram.
Five of the slides can be found here. They concern Ukraine, and purport to show the US in direct conflict with Russia. One also shows 14 British soldiers on the ground. The slides also show Ukraine is losing the war and has been losing the war.
The scale of the leak — analysts say more than 100 documents may have been obtained — along with the sensitivity of the documents themselves, could be hugely damaging, U.S. officials said. A senior intelligence official called the leak “a nightmare for the Five Eyes,” in a reference to the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the so-called Five Eyes nations that broadly share intelligence.
The latest documents were found on Twitter and other sites on Friday, a day after senior Biden administration officials said they were investigating a potential leak of classified Ukrainian war plans, include an alarming assessment of Ukraine’s faltering air defense capabilities. One slide, dated Feb. 23, is labeled “Secret/NoForn,” meaning it was not meant to be shared with foreign countries.
Mick Mulroy, a former senior Pentagon official, said the leak of the classified documents represents “a significant breach in security” that could hinder Ukrainian military planning. “As many of these were pictures of documents, it appears that it was a deliberate leak done by someone that wished to damage the Ukraine, U.S., and NATO efforts,” he said.”
One analyst described what has emerged so far as the “tip of the iceberg.”
Early Friday, senior national security officials dealing with the initial leak, which was first reported by The New York Times, said a new worry had arisen: Was that information the only intelligence that was leaked?
More documents emerged on 4chan. they appear to show the status of the Battle of Bakhmut, among other secrets.
A Ukrainian official said the leak is Russian disinformation. The US is pushing the doctored documents mantra.
According to The Times, the US said the Pentagon has nothing more to add. That seems like more confirmation that the files are accurate.
The documents are photos of “charts with weapons deliveries, troop and battalion strengths, and other plans.”
Reporter Michael Tracey states: The chatter among pro-Ukraine “OSINT” types is begrudging acknowledgment that these documents are clearly genuine because trying to deny it would be self-defeating — even though they expose highly sensitive info on US/NATO/Ukraine war operations. Looks like one hell of a leak.
The first tranche of documents can be found here.
What is real? Do we know anymore?