IRIA News

Hundreds of Pentagon’s highly classified documents were leaked online in Washington’s worst security breach in recent years. The documents contain critical details about Ukraine’s ammunition, the U.S.’s intelligence-gathering methods against Russia, and evidence of the U.S. spying on its own allies.

Most of the leaked documents have been marked from February to March 2023. The U.S. administration and President Joe Biden have been informed about the breach last week, however, it was not until recently that the news and details about the leaked documents surfaced on mainstream and social media. The spokesperson of the United States National Security Council John Kirby said that he still does not know whether the leak has been contained.

Kirby did not deny the leaks; however, without pointing out the specifics, he confirmed the speculations about some of the documents being doctored and fake. He said that “we know that some of them have been doctored,” while adding that officials are “still working through the validity of all the documents that we know are out there.”

“We do not know who is behind this. We do not know what the motive is… There have been steps to take a closer look at how this type of information is distributed and to whom. We’re also still trying to assess what might be out there,” Kirby said adding that “This is information that has no business in the public domain.”

According to the Pentagon statement, “An effort is underway to determine who might have leaked the information, how they did it and why — though that effort is not being undertaken by the department itself. Instead, the matter has been referred to the Department of Justice, which has opened a criminal investigation.”

Ukraine war

The leaked documents have unveiled crucial information about Ukraine’s arsenal and particularly its depleting stocks of air defense systems. A document marked from February 2023, predicts that Ukraine is running out of stock for S-300 air defense systems and if the usage remains the same, Ukraine’s Soviet-era S-300 air defense systems would run out of missiles by May 2, 2023. It is so far unclear whether Ukraine has changed its usage policy since then. 

One of the leaked documents uses the term “Lapis time series video”, which is the U.S. Department of Defense’s closely guarded satellite-based surveillance system. The document indicates that the U.S. intelligence agencies have been carrying out satellite-based surveillance in Ukraine without Kyiv’s consent.

The documents also show that the U.S. intelligence gathering plays a key role in Kyiv’s policy military policy development, however, Kyiv denied the involvement of the U.S. input in its military strategy against Russia. Ukrainian Presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said Kyiv’s strategic plans are independent and remain unchanged, however, specific tactics are always subject to change.

Intelligence gathering on Russia

Several of the leaked documents record events related to Russia particularly involving the Russian military, Russia’s private mercenary force the Wagner Group, and Russia’s strategy in the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Some of the highlights from this group related to Russia have been enlisted below:

• A document claims that the Wagner Group has been trying to purchase weapons from NATO ally Turkey, as well as from Mali, where the group has been stationed by the Malian government to control the ongoing conflict situation. The document also claims that the Wagner Group plans to recruit war criminals and convicts from the Ukraine conflict and expand its operations.
• Some documents show satellite images of the targets that should be hit by Ukrainian forces. One document states that the Ukrainian air strike on the “assembly area” resulted in severe damage and was carried out with the help of U.S. intelligence. The document is unclear about the specific air strike.
• One of the documents presents an assessment from the National Reconnaissance Office and other intelligence officials, stating that the conflict in the Donbas region is headed for a stalemate and would continue through 2023.
• A document also cites an event where a Russian fighter jet nearly shot down a British surveillance plane off the coast of Crimea. The document explains the incident as a “near-shoot down of UK RJ”, a reference to the Rivet Joint moniker common for RC-135 reconnaissance planes. The incident took place in October 2022 and at that time British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said that he does not consider the act as a deliberate attempt from Russia to escalate the situation.

Spying on allies

The leaked documents have created an embarrassing situation for U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration on an international front by exposing that the U.S. has been spying on some of its closest allies, including South Korea, Israel, and Ukraine.

The documents revealed that the U.S. has been spying on Ukrainian President Vlodomy Zelensky. According to an intelligence assessment report, Zelensky in late February “suggested striking Russian deployment locations in Russia’s Rostov Oblast” using unmanned aerial vehicles. The information about these strikes was not shared, suggesting that U.S. intelligence had been intercepting the Ukrainian president’s conversations to keep an eye on developments regarding the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

Another report about Jerusalem has sparked controversy between the U.S. and its close ally Israel. The report suggests that the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, has been encouraging protests in the country against the newly appointed government.

Israeli Prime Minister’s office tried to do some damage control by stating that the report is “mendacious and without any foundation whatsoever.” The statement said that “Mossad and its serving senior personnel have not engaged in the issue of the demonstrations at all and are dedicated to the value of service to the state that has guided the Mossad since its founding.”

Another report was titled “Israel: Pathways to Providing Lethal Aid to Ukraine”. The report suggested that Israeli would likely consider providing lethal aid “under increased U.S. pressure or a perceived degradation” in its relationship with Russia.

Another document describes a conversation between two senior South Korean national security officials concerning the U.S.’s request for ammunition and weapons for Ukraine. The document provides remarkable detail about the conversation, suggesting that the two officials were worried and reluctant in providing ammunition to the U.S., which would be supplied to Ukraine, violating South Korea’s policy of not sending weapons to warring states. The document suggests that U.S. and South Korea can go around the policy by involving Poland in a deal with South Korea and supplying Poland’s weapons to Ukraine.

Leader of South Korea’s opposition party Lee Jae-myung protested by demanding that Washington should apologize for spying on Korea. He said, “If it is true that they have spied on us, it is a very disappointing act that undermines the South Korea-U.S. alliance, which is based on mutual trust”.

South Korean government did not respond to the situation as it is still coordinating with the U.S. counterpart to get more details on the issue. South Korean President Yoon Suk-you downplayed the disclosures of the secret document and defended Seoul’s alliance with Washington. Yoon is set to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden on April 26, 2023, in Washington.