Washington – continued
Publication date: April 11, 2023, 00:27, Kazakhstan
The Wall Street Journal has confirmed that top-secret US military and intelligence documents were first leaked online in January, months before they were first made public. Around January, according to the newspaper, an anonymous member of a small group on the chat platform Discord began posting dossiers, many of which are said to be top secret, that contained details about the war in Ukraine, with the U.S. eavesdropping on discussions and messages by a number of its allies, such as Israel and South Korea, and details of US infiltration into Russia’s military plans, among other things. The documents, which number in the hundreds, were distributed to members of a small group on the platform until early March, when one user posted dozens of them to another group with a wider audience. After that, at least 10 files were sent to a large group of fans of the famous Minecraft game. Last Wednesday, a Russian propaganda account on the Telegram app published a grossly falsified copy of one of the documents along with several other documents, according to the newspaper. The FBI and the Department of Justice are currently conducting a wide-ranging investigation to get answers to the question of how dozens of photos allegedly showing classified documents appeared online. A government investigation launched on Friday at the request of the Defense Ministry is looking for the source of the leak. The leaked documents are photographs and files printed on A4 paper, according to a new report. It appears to have been folded twice, perhaps smuggled out of a secured facility. A Pentagon spokeswoman said yesterday that the agency is investigating and evaluating the authenticity of video documents “that appear to contain classified and highly classified material.” She stressed that the United States discussed the issue with allies over the weekend and is studying the potential national security impact of the breach. The newspaper was unable to independently verify the documents, but they contain enough detail to inspire confidence. Defense Department officials said they believe some of the documents may be authentic. Leaking documents has become a common tactic during the war in Ukraine, but according to analysts, the release of US intelligence files appearing on Discord, the online chat room favored by video game players, follows a different and somewhat cryptic pattern. Members of Discord groups were quick to delete their accounts and clear their servers for fear of reprisals from the US government and foreign intelligence agencies. Founded eight years ago in San Francisco, Discord gained popularity as a program that video game players could use to communicate with each other as a group. Most of these chat servers are private, shared by friends, but they can also be public. A spokesperson for Discord said the platform is cooperating with law enforcement in investigating the leak. In total, just over 50 documents classified as “secret” and “top secret” have surfaced so far. Although some of these documents were published weeks ago, the New York Times first reported on them on Friday. This latest leak is considered one of the biggest security breaches since the 2013 WikiLeaks leak, which included over 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables.dv
