Yana Stavskaya08:25, 04/11/23

Yana Stavskaya08:25, 04/11/23

It is not yet clear how Washington will remedy what many are already calling one of the biggest failures of American intelligence.

Senior US officials are trying to reassure the allies after the leak of highly classified information about the war in Ukraine , writes Politico , citing sources in the US and Europe.

Following the release by unidentified individuals of the UAF counteroffensive, senior U.S. intelligence, State Department and Pentagon officials contacted their counterparts in other countries to allay concerns about the release of intelligence, four officials from different countries told the publication.

Officials in London, Brussels, Berlin, Dubai and Kiev began asking Washington questions about how classified information ended up on the Internet, who was responsible for the leak, and what the US is doing to ensure that information is removed from social media.

As of Monday morning, U.S. officials told allies that the administration was investigating and that they were still trying to understand the full extent of the leak, the sources said.

It is also reported that Ukraine has long been worried that the information it shares with the United States is being made public. “This incident showed that the Ukrainians were absolutely right in this. The Americans now owe the Ukrainians. They should apologize and compensate,” one of the European officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

The leak led to a crisis in US relations with allies, and it is not yet clear how Washington will correct the situation, which many already call one of the biggest failures of American intelligence since the release of classified documents on the WikiLeaks website.

“The method of the leak and the contents of the documents are very unusual. I can’t think of a case where the leak was so voluminous and covered such a wide range of information that just got into social networks, and did not pass through journalists, as was the case with the Snowden files, – a former U.S. intelligence analyst who has covered Russia told Politico.

Pentagon data leak – what is known

NYT April 7, citing sources in the Pentagon, reported a large-scale leak of data on the counter-offensive of Ukraine. Documents posted on Telegram and Twitter contained data on the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and distorted US estimates of Ukrainian and Russian losses. 

However, as Bellingcat learned , US Department of Defense classified material was first posted on Discort no later than January 2023. Investigators have not been able to identify who did this at this time.

The West is sure that Russia is behind the data leak, and the Pentagon has already begun searching for a pro-Russian “mole”.  CNN wrote that Ukraine allegedly changed its plans for military operations after the publication of these documents.

It is not yet clear how Washington will remedy what many are already calling one of the biggest failures of American intelligence.

Senior US officials are trying to reassure the allies after the leak of highly classified information about the war in Ukraine , writes Politico , citing sources in the US and Europe.

Following the release by unidentified individuals of the UAF counteroffensive, senior U.S. intelligence, State Department and Pentagon officials contacted their counterparts in other countries to allay concerns about the release of intelligence, four officials from different countries told the publication.

Officials in London, Brussels, Berlin, Dubai and Kiev began asking Washington questions about how classified information ended up on the Internet, who was responsible for the leak, and what the US is doing to ensure that information is removed from social media.

As of Monday morning, U.S. officials told allies that the administration was investigating and that they were still trying to understand the full extent of the leak, the sources said.

It is also reported that Ukraine has long been worried that the information it shares with the United States is being made public. “This incident showed that the Ukrainians were absolutely right in this. The Americans now owe the Ukrainians. They should apologize and compensate,” one of the European officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

The leak led to a crisis in US relations with allies, and it is not yet clear how Washington will correct the situation, which many already call one of the biggest failures of American intelligence since the release of classified documents on the WikiLeaks website.

“The method of the leak and the contents of the documents are very unusual. I can’t think of a case where the leak was so voluminous and covered such a wide range of information that just got into social networks, and did not pass through journalists, as was the case with the Snowden files, – a former U.S. intelligence analyst who has covered Russia told Politico.

(C)UNIAN 2023