Secret US government documents posted on online message boards leaked to the worldwide media late last week in what might be the biggest national security breach in at the very least a decade.
The The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the files began to be shared with a small group on the Discord messaging platform in January and were made available again to a bigger group in early March.
The leak went unnoticed for nearly one other month after the files were deleted posted on the 4Chan image board and resent (a few of them in a modified form) by pro-Russian accounts on the Telegram messaging service.
Other documents have surfaced on other social media platforms and have been reviewed by U.S. intelligence officials over the past few days, complicating Ukraine’s apparent plans for a spring military offensive and revealing details about Kiev’s shrinking air defenses against Russia.
Along with reporting on the state of the 13-month war between Russia and Ukraine, the scandal also exposed US spying on its allies and almost definitely exposed US intelligence sources.
![Pentagon building](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/NYPICHPDPICT000009426315.jpg?w=1024)
Listed below are the biggest revelations from the leaked documents:
- Five photos of printed presentation slides and maps dated March 1 detail timetables for training and preparing nine Ukrainian brigades for the expected counterattack, in addition to information on tanks, vehicles and artillery together with equipment supply trains. US officials told The Post that the photos show real slides, but among the information appears to have been edited – particularly claims that Russia has lost between “16,000 and 17,500” to this point within the conflict. forces, while between “61-71.5 thousand.” Ukrainian soldiers were killed in motion.
- Other leaked Pentagon documents predicted that without reinforcements, Ukraine’s air defense forces can be depleted by May 23, allowing Russian fighters and bombers to return to the skies in large numbers, in accordance with The Latest York Times.
- South Korean officials have been wary of sending munitions to the US for fear that the weapons shall be sent to Ukraine – information that US intelligence officials obtained by spying on considered one of Washington’s strongest allies in East Asia, reports the Times.
- US officials studied easy methods to persuade Israel to offer “deadly aid” for Ukraine maintaining official neutrality within the conflict between Kiev and Moscow, in accordance with NBC News. Options being discussed include directing Israeli material to Ukraine through third parties or emphasizing Moscow’s support for Iran in addition to its role in the continued civil war in Syria.
- Hackers working with Russia’s FSB spy agency claimed to have halted operations at a Canadian gas pipeline company earlier this yr, The Globe and Mail reported.. Nonetheless, the corporate’s president denied these reports, and Canadian officials were unable to substantiate that the cyberattack had taken place. .
- CIA intelligence leaked Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency issued ‘clear calls to motion’ against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial judicial reform plan – though his office has since called the report “false and baseless.”
On Monday, the Pentagon said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was made aware of the leaks on April 6 and spent the next days reaching out to allies and holding each day meetings to evaluate the damage attributable to the leaks.
![According to a leaked Pentagon document, Ukraine's missile stockpile, which accounts for 89 percent of its protection against most fighter planes and some bombers, could be exhausted by the wee hours of the morning.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/NYPICHPDPICT000009443891-2.jpg?w=1024)
![Screenshot from 4Chan](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/NYPICHPDPICT000009450000-1.jpg)
![Screenshot from Telegram Channel](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/NYPICHPDPICT000009449728-1.jpg?w=650)
Spokesman Chris Meagher said the department was looking closely at “how such a information is distributed and to whom,” but didn’t say whether steps had already been taken to tighten controls over who could access it.
On the White House, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was asked if the US was preparing for more online communications.
“The truth and honest answer to your query is we do not know,” he said. “Can we care?” You are rattling right it’s.
Kirby said at this point, “we do not know who’s behind it, we do not know what the motive is.”
The FBI and Justice Department launched an investigation into the leaks on the request of the Pentagon.
With postal wires