“Any intelligence service in the world has infiltrators in the adversary’s leadership centers and contacts that tell them things.” This statement, made to this medium a year ago by Jorge Dezcallar, former director of the National Intelligence Center, has become more relevant than ever this week. A leak of Pentagon documents has revealed confidential information about the plans surrounding the Ukraine war from many actors involved. The dozens of documents confirm the phrase of the former head of Spanish Intelligence; although it could be complemented: not only are adversaries spied on, also to allies.
The information released demonstrates how deeply the United States has penetrated Russian intelligence services and its ability to warn Ukraine about Moscow’s plans. But it is not the only thing that has been confirmed, as reported by the US media. The documents also show that the United States seems to be spying on Ukraine’s top military and politiciansas well as other allied countries such as Egypt, Israel or South Korea.
US officials have told the The New York Times that the documents offer clues about US methods of gathering information about Russian plans. These same officials assure that the leak has also caused complications in relations with allied countries for the alleged spying on them revealed by the documents and raised questions about the ability of the United States to keep their secrets.
Documents leaked at the end of January
Despite the fact that it was last week when these documents began to run through Telegram channels, the truth is that they were published on Discord channels at the end of January. The information circulated through this messaging service causing “jokes, racist comments and even memes” without attracting significant attention, they have told The Washington Post sources familiar with the case.
After several weeks, a member of this group began leaking the documents anonymously to another with a larger number of members. In them you could read information about the war in Ukraine, intercepted communications from US allies and details about Russian military plans, among other topics.
According to the US media, there are more than a hundred documents that have been released. Last week, an edited version of one of these documents came to light through the Russian messaging application Telegram. The White House assured this Monday that the leaks contain “manipulated” documents, questioning the authenticity of some of them for being edited. “We continue to work to clarify the validity of all the documents that are out there,” said US Presidential Homeland Security spokesman John Kirby.
When the leak was made public in the media around the world, the members of the Discord group proceeded to delete the shared information and their own accounts for fear of reprisals from the US government. This Monday the US Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation by a leak that “appear to contain sensitive and highly classified material.”
Main partners of the US among those spied on
Washington has requested caution regarding those possibly involved in the leak and from the White House are in contact with the countries affected by this case. One of the governments mentioned is the Israeli one, which is experiencing a convulsive situation after several weeks of protests against the country’s judicial reform.
One of the documents suggests that the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service, could have functioned as a motor of the protests against the reform of Benjamin Netanyahu, something that the Israeli prime minister’s office considered on Sunday to be “without foundation”.
Other text shows that the United States allegedly spied on senior South Korean officials in March who were discussing Washington’s pressure on Seoul to send weapons to Ukraine, in violation of South Korean policy that traditionally refuses to supply arms to countries in conflict.
Some opposition voices have called on South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol to cancel his planned visit to Washington this month. However, this same Tuesday the South Korean and American defense officials, Lee Jong-sup and Lloyd Austin, have come out to the point ensuring that the documents have been falsified.
In addition to the document that would show that the US allegedly agreed to some Ukrainian government battle plans, another states that the Egyptian president, Abdelfatah al Sisi, ordered his government officials to produce more than 40,000 rockets to send to Russia secretly to “avoid problems with the West”. Both Egypt and Russia have denied this.
Ukraine hopes it will not influence their plans
If there is one piece of information that has generated controversy, it is that relating to the war in Ukraine. On the one hand, due to the alleged espionage of Ukraine, and on the other, due to the information that reaches Russia and could use it to combat the announced Ukrainian counter-offensive scheduled for late spring and early summer. The leaked documents contain tables of future arms deliveries, data on troop and battalion strengths, as well as military plans.
Some of these documents also show the vision of the Biden Executive on the Ukrainian Army, in which it is stated that it is in a desperate situation.
From the Ukraine Call this leak “weird” and ensure that all Ukrainian employees close to President Zelensky work in an “absolutely professional” manner, said the adviser to the Presidential Office of Ukraine, Mikhailo Podoliak. This spokesman has attributed the leak to Russia with the aim of “try to influence plans of Ukraine for a counteroffensive” at the front. “This is a bluff: dust in the eyes,” he highlighted on Telegram.
However, the leaked information does not seem to include plans that are too sensitive or information accurate enough to derail the Ukrainian plans. Furthermore, it is information from several months ago, so we would not be talking about the most immediate movements.
“We don’t know who is behind this, we don’t know what the reason is or what else may be out there,” said the National Security spokesman on Monday. Meanwhile, Washington is trying to put out the diplomatic fireworks caused by the leak. Justice is already looking for those responsible, hoping that there will be no more publications.