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| US classified documents on a gaming platform: Pentagon Leaks 'Extremely Serious Threat' to national security |
The Pentagon has said the leak of classified US Defense Department documents poses a "very serious" threat to national security. However, interestingly, these secret documents were first found on a video gaming platform.
According to the Department of Defense, these documents contain sensitive information about the war in Ukraine as well as China and US allies.
Officials say the files are in the form of documents released to senior leaders.
However, an investigation has been launched to determine why and how these documents were leaked.
Officials say some documents may have been tampered with. The documents first appeared on online platforms such as Twitter, 4Chain, and Telegram, as well as on the Discord server of the video game Minecraft.
Some of the leaked documents are said to contain highly detailed information about the war in Ukraine, as well as sensitive US briefings on allies.
Sources close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN news channel that Ukraine has already changed some of its military plans because of the leaks.
Other documents allegedly deal with defense and security issues in the Middle East as well as the Indo-Pacific region.
Statement by Chris Meagher
Speaking to reporters on Monday, a senior Pentagon official said the documents "pose a very serious threat to national security and have the potential to spread disinformation."
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Chris Meagher said, "We are still investigating how this happened as well as trying to determine how widespread this may have been."
The Pentagon is reevaluating how it works to determine who should have access to such sensitive documents.
He said that steps have been taken to keep a close eye on how and to whom this type of information should be communicated.
However, when asked if the Pentagon believed the documents to be genuine, Mr. Meagher declined to answer. Although he said that 'it seems that some have been exchanged.'
Importantly, they are among the most classified U.S. information released during the 14-month war between Ukraine and Russia.
Some of these documents are only a month and a half old.
Far-reaching consequences
This can have far-reaching consequences. Officials of the US Ministry of Defense are being told that these documents are genuine.
At least one document shows signs of a fairly obvious change, but only one document out of hundreds.
The BBC has seen more than 20 of these documents.
They contain details of weapons and training given to Ukraine. The detailed information comes as Ukraine prepares to field dozens of new regiments in the war against Russia this summer.
These documents indicate when the new brigades of the Ukrainian army will be ready.
Apart from this, how many tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery are being provided for them.
It has also been said that the availability of weapons will depend on training and readiness.
They also include a map showing Ukraine's military operations in eastern Ukraine over the summer.
Ukraine's air defense system has undergone a tough test this past winter.
It has also been reported that Ukraine's air defense capability has been very low.
The reason for this is that, in addition to protecting civilians, Ukraine also has to use resources to protect critical infrastructure.
The main purpose of the air defense system is to avoid Russian air attacks.
Obviously, limited resources are hampering this goal.
The documents contain information not only about Ukraine's military situation but also about other US allies.
According to classified information, allies like Israel and South Korea are also having serious discussions about Ukraine.
His position on many other sensitive topics has also come out openly.
Some documents are marked as 'Top Secret'. The rest are directed to share intelligence only with America's closest allies.
What's new in documentation?
Most of the information is not new and is familiar. But at the same time, there is a lot of confidential information available in them.
Take the number of soldiers killed or wounded in battle. Surprisingly, according to American estimates, 189,500 to 223,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in the war so far.
Due to a lack of information, operational security, and a deliberate attempt to misinform the US Department of Defense, he does not have full confidence in these figures himself.
According to him, both Russia and Ukraine can give misleading information.
The leaked documents attempt to show that the death toll in Ukraine is much higher.
A version of these documents has been published on the pro-Russian Telegram site.
It has been tampered with where the number of soldiers who died in the battle (between 16,000 and 17,500) was written.
The figure has been revised from 61,000 to 71,500.
Who made all this public?
Open Source IntelligenceEric Taylor of the group BellingCat explains how this secret information made its way from messaging platform Discord to Telegram.
Taylor says the original source of the documents is still unknown, but the documents have been circulating among gaming enthusiasts on the Internet since March.
Discord is the most popular messaging platform for Minecraft gamers.
On March 4, during a discussion on the war in Ukraine on Discord, a user wrote – Here, look at some classified documents. He then posted 10 classified documents.
It was a strange incident. But the issue of document leaks is not new.
Ahead of the 2019 UK general election, some documents on US-UK trade relations were shared on several messaging sites.
At the time, the messaging site Reddit said the documents were shared from Russia.
In another case, some users of the online game 'War Thunder' made several sensitive documents public during a heated discussion.
These people just wanted to win the debate.
But the latest case could prove highly sensitive and potentially damaging for Ukraine.