The Biden administration is reportedly scrambling as it seeks for ways to deal with the situation
The US government is “in crisis mode” as allies bombard it with inquiries about alleged classified Pentagon documents which were apparently leaked online weeks ago, Politico reports. There is no clear understanding in Washington on how to conduct damage control, its sources say.
The administration of US President Joe Biden is scrambling to “quell worries” of foreign governments, Politico reported on Monday, citing four anonymous sources – a US official, two European officials, and an official from a Five Eyes (intelligence-sharing alliance which includes the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand) country.
Other nations have been asking 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 in late February and early March. They made their way from the popular chat platform Discord to 4Chan, to mainstream social media sites such as Twitter and Telegram, and subsequently hit the mainstream news last week.
The Pentagon has not denied the authenticity of the materials, but warned that some of them could have been altered. So far, there has been a single case of a slide containing US assessments of casualties in the Ukraine conflict which was doctored and shared online after the original was uploaded. The figures were changed to make the situation look better for the Russian side. Kiev dismissed the entire trove 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.”
