Top-secret military and intelligence documents that have surfaced online detailing everything from Ukraine’s air defenses to Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency have U.S. officials scrambling to identify the source of the leak, some Western security experts and U.S. officials say , who suspect that it could be someone from the United States, Reuters reports.

Officials say the wide range of topics covered in the documents, which relate to the war in Ukraine, China, the Middle East and Africa, suggest they were released by an American, not an ally.

“Now the emphasis is on the fact that it was leaked from the US, because a lot of the documents ended up only in the hands of the Americans,” said Michael Mulroy, a former senior Pentagon official, in an interview with Reuters.

Those in charge of the investigation are analyzing what motives a US official or group of US officials would have had for leaking such sensitive information, one of the sources told Reuters.

The official also said that investigators are considering four or five theories, ranging from a disgruntled employee to an insider threat that actively sought to undermine US national security interests.

American officials said the investigation was in its early stages, and executives did not rule out pro-Russian elements behind the leak.

In any case, it is considered one of the worst security breaches since WikiLeaks released more than 700,000 diplomatic documents, videos and cables in 2013.

• New York Times: Newly Released Documents Reveal Scale of US Spying and Russian Military Struggle

Some documents have been changed

Since the leak, Reuters has analyzed more than 50 documents labeled “Secret” and “Top Secret” that first appeared last month on social media platforms ranging from Discord to 4Chan.

Although some of the documents were released weeks ago, their existence was first reported on Friday by The New York Times.

Reuters has not independently verified the authenticity of the documents. Some of them, which contained estimates of battlefield casualties in Ukraine, appear to have been altered to minimize Russian casualties.

It is not clear why at least one document is marked “unclassified”, but it contains highly classified information. Some documents are marked “NOFORN”, which means they cannot be issued to foreign nationals.

Two US officials told Reuters on Sunday that they did not rule out the possibility that the documents had been forged to mislead investigators about their origin or spread false information that could harm US security interests.

One of the documents, dated February 23 and marked “Secretly”, talks about how the Ukrainian S-300 air defense systems will be exhausted by May 2 at the current rate of use.

Such information, which is usually closely guarded, could be of great use to Russian forces, and Ukraine said its president and top security officials met on Friday to discuss ways to prevent the leak.

The Pentagon is investigating the incident

Two US officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stressed that while the Pentagon and intelligence agencies are concerned about the leak, the documents show the overall picture of more than a month ago, rather than the latest ratings.

The two officials said the military and intelligence agencies are reviewing their procedures to determine how much of certain information is shared domestically.

The White House did not comment, calling on journalists to contact the Pentagon.

On Sunday, the Pentagon confirmed that it is looking into the matter and has formally asked the Department of Justice to investigate the incident.

For its part, the US Department of Justice announced that it had contacted the Department of Defense and opened an investigation into the leak, but declined to comment further. (news.ro)

On the same topic:

• According to the leak of secret American documents, Mossad would encourage anti-government protests in Israel / The Israeli government rejects the information
• Washington Post: Leaked military documents show Wagner Group tried to buy weapons in Turkey
• The New York Times continues a series of revelations: the leak of documents shows that the United States has been massively spying on the Russian military. American secret services are also eavesdropping on important allies
• Russia appears to be behind the leak of Pentagon documents about the war in Ukraine, US officials say
• Ukraine is considering measures to prevent the leakage of military information
• Kyiv’s reaction to the secret documents about the Ukrainian counter-offensive circulated on the Internet