America’s control over its most treasured secrets has been called into query.
Bill Clark | CQ-Roll call group | Getty’s paintings
An embarrassing leak of top secret Pentagon documents has jeopardized intelligence methods, exposed US strategy and undermined trust among US allies, former Defense Department officials and intelligence experts tell CNBC.
US authorities arrested 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, a low-ranking member of the Massachusetts National Guard, on Thursday in reference to the leak investigation.
America’s control of its most treasured secrets has been called into query in essentially the most damaging intelligence leak since Edward Snowden’s breach greater than a decade ago.
“It’s hard to trust us with our secrets if we won’t protect them,” said Bill Lynn, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense under President Barack Obama, who now serves because the chief security officer of the USA. Leonardo DRS.
A set of secret documents that first surfaced on social media site Discord last month revealed stunning details about US spying on Russia’s military operations in Ukraine and classified details about Ukraine’s combat strength, in line with NBC News.
“It gives the Russians an insight into how we collect this information, which puts these sources in danger,” Lynn said.
“Devasting” for US allies
The key security breach also involved intelligence gathering on US allies, including South Korea and Israel.
“It’s devastating to our allies when information like that is spread,” Lynn said. “It was shared too widely … but that is 20-20 in hindsight and it is simple to inform now,” he added.
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“In interviews, there may be all the time the intention to offer information to individuals who need it in order that it might probably be used, after which to guard it from disclosure. After all, on this case, we didn’t do enough to guard them.”
“Messy and Incompetent”
The character of the leak – and the revelation that some documents can have been leaked for as much as a 12 months before the US Department of Defense came upon – makes the US government look unreliable and incompetent, one former CIA officer told CNBC.
“The incontrovertible fact that a 21-year-old kid had access to this type of material? Our allies see us as sloppy and incompetent,” said Marty Martin, who served for several years within the CIA’s senior intelligence services in addition to the NSA and the US military.
The White House responded to questions highlighting this concern, saying the Pentagon continued to limit access to sensitive information and that an investigation was ongoing.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley hold a press conference after the Virtual Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting on the Pentagon in Washington, U.S., March 15, 2023.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
But Martin, who led the CIA team that tracked down Osama bin Laden and plenty of other al-Qaeda operatives, believes that the environment that made such a breach possible was the work of the federal government itself.
“In 2002-2003, within the aftermath of 9/11, the Department of Defense, DNI (Directorate of National Intelligence) and Congress pushed hard for all intelligence to be combined,” Martin recounted, describing his concern on the time that it might allow an excessive amount of access to highly sensitive materials.
Many within the U.S. government believed that there was no inter-agency intelligence sharing before 9/11p the attacks left the country blinded and unprepared. Due to this fact, the policy has been modified to increase information sharing.
“Total Disaster”
Martin believes this approach has led to the intelligence breach the country is currently facing.
“So all of the databases were put together and now you’ve gotten some 21-year-old National Guard guy with access to CIA operational secrets. The crown jewels of top-secret intelligence in Washington have change into like a little bit game. “
“The Pentagon guy who counts the tanks doesn’t need access to sensitive counter-terrorism or CIA operational information,” said Martin. “It’s a complete disaster.”
![Suspect Arrested in Leak of Pentagon Documents, NBC News Reports](https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/107224927-16814118231681411821-29004511726-1080pnbcnews.jpg?v=1681414156&w=750&h=422&vtcrop=y)
The implications for international alliances are serious, Martin added.
“Our allies cannot trust us… Due to this fact, the Middle East, they consult with chinese people. And the Saudis are talking to Iran. Why? American leadership is missing.”
CNBC reached out to the Pentagon and the White House for comment.
US credibility at stake?
Even with the rise in intelligence sharing between US agencies lately, observers are still amazed that such a junior worker would have access to CIA reports.
“How can a young ANG (Air National Guard)…have access like this? How does this kid get this information on an ANG base on Cape Cod? How was he capable of (1) print them (2) take them home?” a U.S. defense industry executive told CNBC, speaking anonymously resulting from skilled constraints.
An undated photo shows Jack Douglas Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the US National Guard who was arrested by the FBI for allegedly being involved within the leak of classified documents on the Web, posing for a selfie in an unidentified location.
Social Media Website | Reuters
“Strangely, considered one of the documents is an internal CIA document – as an internal document, it might never have been distributed to other agencies, even throughout the intelligence community. How is it there?” said the director, referring to the leaked documents.
NBC didn’t confirm the authenticity of the documents. The US government treats them as authentic but warns that some appear to have been altered.
The manager asked how the Air National Guard server would access the CIA reports.
“I’m just not convinced that the ANG database has access to these kinds of documents. So I ponder if other documents have been added to this mix,” he said.
Most significantly, he said – echoing Martin’s concerns – the leak damages US credibility and trust between the alliances. He pointed to leaked files, a few of which he had seen, showing a grim picture of Ukraine’s future prospects in battle.
“The important thing point will not be really a leak,” argued the director. “It is a fact [that] Someway these documents got here out, which principally say what experts have known for months: Ukraine will probably not win this war,” he said, adding that he was working with Ukrainians.
Kiev strongly disagrees with this position, expressing its consistent belief in the power of its forces to defeat the Russians, provided that the West provides constant military support.
“So long as we publicly tell everyone that ‘Russia will lose in a short time,’ we are losing credibility,” he argued. “And that is why India, Africa, the Middle East, etc. have their very own policies and their very own intelligence networks.”