US allies seek censorship of Pentagon leak – Politico
The US government is “in crisis mode” as allies bombard it with questions about alleged classified Pentagon documents which were apparently leaked online, Politico has claimed. There is no clear understanding in Washington on how to conduct damage control, sources told the outlet.
The administration of US President Joe Biden is scrambling to quell the concerns of foreign governments, Politico reported on Monday, citing four anonymous officials – one from the US, two from Europe, and one from a member of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, which includes the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
Other nations have asked the US how the leak occurred, who was responsible, and what it was doing “to ensure the information was removed from social media,” the outlet said. The Biden administration has reportedly put pressure on tech companies to suppress the images.
The photos of dozens of documents, which appear to be briefing materials compiled for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, began to circulate online by late February – possibly as early as January, according to some accounts. They made their way from the popular chat platform Discord to 4Chan, and onto mainstream social media sites such as Twitter and Telegram. They subsequently appeared in major news outlets last week.
The Pentagon has not denied the authenticity of the materials, but warned that some of them may have been altered. So far, it appears that there has only been one case of a slide containing US assessments of casualties in the Ukraine conflict. One version of the image, which started circulating online later, contained figures regarding casualties that were more favorable for the Russia side than the original version. Kiev has dismissed the entire trove of documents as a Russian disinformation operation.
One Politico source argued that Ukraine should not trust the US with its military secrets after the leak.
“Americans now owe the Ukrainians. They have to apologize and compensate,” the European official said.
While many of the documents appear to detail the US perception of the conflict, it’s not the only topic they cover. Some apparently detail American intelligence on Israel, South Korea, Canada, and the Middle East, and indicate that Washington is spying on its closest allies.
According to Politico, as of Sunday, even senior US officials with portfolios that pertain to the countries mentioned did not know how the Biden administration would deal with the crisis.
“I have no idea what the plan is,” a senior US official told the outlet. “I’d like to know myself how we’re going to handle it.”
