Pentagon: Interagency effort underway to assess impact of leaked materials

0 0 Monday, April 10, 2023 Edit this post

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Pentagon: Interagency effort underway to assess impact of leaked materials

An interagency effort is underway to assess a trove of apparent Pentagon documents that were posted online and evaluate their potential impact on national security, the Defense Department said late Sunday, amid questions about the source of the leaks.

The Defense Department is assessing the validity of the documents, which “appear to contain sensitive and highly classified material,” Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said in a statement.

“An interagency effort has been stood up, focused on assessing the impact these photographed documents could have had on U.S. national security and on our Allies and partners,” Singh said.

“Over the weekend, U.S. officials have engaged with Allies and partners and have informed relevant congressional committees of jurisdiction about the disclosure.”

The Defense Department also made a referral to the Justice Department, which has opened a criminal investigation into the leaks, Singh said.

The Pentagon said on Friday that it was reviewing a batch of leaked documents purportedly related to Russia’s war on Ukraine, but additional documents on other national security topics have surfaced in recent days.

Some of the leaked documents appear to cover U.S. and NATO support to Kyiv, while others reportedly relate to other countries, including Israel and South Korea — though there are also concerns that some of the materials may have been altered.

Reuters reports that U.S. officials are scrambling to try and identify who’s behind the incident, and that some experts have suggested it could be an American. Ukraine has suggested Russia is behind the matter.

U.S. officials are working to remove the materials from the social media platforms to which they were posted, according to Voice of America.