US opens probe into military document leaks

Kathmandu: The US Department of Justice has launched an investigation into an apparent leak of intelligence documents.

The investigation comes as new documents surfaced Friday covering everything from US support for Ukraine to information about key US allies like Israel, widening the fallout from the already alarming leaks.

The Pentagon on Thursday said it was looking into the matter after social media posts of apparently classified documents on the war in Ukraine had emerged. ‘They look real,’ a US official told CNN about the leaked documents.

US officials say they are taking the leaks seriously as they investigate and work toward a more formal assessment of what is in the documents and how they were leaked. So far, they appear legitimate, and there isn’t a major reason to doubt that the documents are in fact what they appear to be. US officials believe their public release would represent a significant breach.

The documents that were surfaced on Friday by open-source intelligence researchers appear to have been posted online in the past few weeks. They appear to contain classified information on topics ranging from the mercenary Wagner Group’s operations in Africa and Israel’s pathways to providing lethal aid to Ukraine, to intelligence about the United Arab Emirates’ ties to Russia and South Korean concerns about providing ammunition to the US for use in Ukraine.

The documents, which are said to have been originally posted on Discord and widely shared on social media platforms such as Twitter, are labelled “secret” and resemble routine updates that the US military’s Joint Staff would produce daily but not distribute publicly.

They are dated ranging from 23 February to 1 March and provide what appear to be details on the progress of weapons and equipment going into Ukraine with more precise timelines and amounts than the US generally provides.