(ConcernedPatriot.com) – Some in Ukraine and Russia have dismissed U.S. intelligence documents about the Ukrainian war and other global issues as bogus.
But other countries are taking them seriously. The documents were reportedly released through internet gaming forums.
Up to 100 pages of classified U.S. intelligence assessments have slipped into the public domain, marking the largest intelligence leak since Edward Snowden in 2013, who released thousands of papers after growing worried about the moral ramifications of Western spy operations.
Breitbart News claimed the integrity of this fresh batch of stolen documents, which primarily deal with military evaluations of the Ukrainian war but also purported to disclose American espionage against allies like South Korea and Israel.
Even though the Pentagon and Justice Department in the United States have just stated that they are aware of the charges, are looking into them, and have nothing else to add, they are regarded seriously by Western intelligence observers.
Establishment-friendly media outlets like CNN and publications like the Washington Post and the New York Times, which broke the news of the documents’ appearance on social media and online gaming forums, note that intelligence sources are treating them as “legitimate intelligence and operational briefs,” and they express frustration in the U.S. government over the fact that the documents were posted online for weeks before anyone noticed.
Huge deep state humiliation: https://t.co/GQIKPxhuHX
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) April 9, 2023
The provenance of the documents is unknown, but according to open-source intelligence group Bellingcat, they were posted on the popular social network Discord in January and appear to be leaked intelligence data.
The data eventually made their way to Russia’s Telegram, where they were discovered, and 4chan, where they were used to settle disagreements, echoing a previous breach used to browbeat players in a discussion about the realism of a tank battle simulation.
James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence for the United States during the Obama administration, commented on the seriousness of the leak to CNN, saying:
“This appears to be a very serious breach of security, which is potentially very dangerous. It highlights the degree to which U.S. intelligence has penetrated the Russian intelligence and military hierarchies.”
All available resources are undoubtedly being used to identify the source of this dangerous information breach.
Pentagon makes DOJ referral over Ukraine war classified document leak https://t.co/c38IAL5RLi
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 8, 2023
According to a senior British intelligence source quoted by Britain’s Daily Telegraph, the leak “shows a failure at the very highest levels of classification” and is “extremely important.”
He added, “The Americans have had a severe problem, if true, since Edward Snowden.”
Notwithstanding the catastrophic consequences for the integrity of the American intelligence community, if Moscow can utilize the documents to uncover its own weaknesses, it may affect America’s capacity to continue gathering such comprehensive intelligence on Russia’s military weakness.
This is a developing story.
Copyright 2023. ConcernedPatriot.com
