US intelligence documents leaked online could be result of an ‘inside job’ say Washington sources

US administration investigating how classified documents were leaked online admitted it could have been done by somebody inside the Washington administration.

Documents circulating on the internet that are suspected to be classified and related to the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies could turn out to be fake. This was reported by Reuters on Sunday, April 9, citing sources in the Washington administration.

The sources did not rule out that the papers could have been forged in order to mislead US Justice Department investigators as to their origin. Furthermore, the US authorities admitted that the documents may contain “inaccurate information with the purpose of harming US security interests”, according to the news agency, which has studied the papers.

According to its version, some assessments of the situation in Ukraine: “appear to have been altered in order to minimise Russian losses”. As Reuters stressed, it is unclear why: “at least one document is marked as unclassified but contains top secret information”.

Some of the material was posted on social media weeks ago they pointed out but was only reported by the mainstream media last Friday 7, by The New York Times. Most of the documents that have surfaced online date back to the winter and may contain outdated information, Reuters continued.

One of the papers, dated February 23, details how at the current rate of air defence use, the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ stockpile of S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems will be depleted by May 2.

According to Reuters, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with the country’s security leadership on April 6 to discuss ways to prevent information leaks.

The Pentagon and the US Department of Justice have launched an investigation into the documents published online. According to the agency, the motives of those who may have disseminated the allegedly classified information are being investigated.

Investigators are considering several versions, from a disgruntled employee to a deliberate undermining of the country’s national security interests. The authorities are also investigating the extent to which the intelligence is being disseminated at an inter-agency level.

They are virtually certain that a member of the Washington administration distributed the material, not someone allied to it. Many of the documents bear a notation prohibiting them from being shared with foreigners.

Reuters said that the investigation was at an early stage but investigators: “do not rule out the possibility that pro-Russian elements were behind the leaks”.

The news agency stressed that this could be one of the most significant information leaks since more than 700,000 documents, videos, and diplomatic cables surfaced on the WikiLeaks website in 2013, as reported by tass.ru.

___________________________________________________________

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Do remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.