The United States seems to be the victim of a leak of confidential documents on several messaging and social networks, concerning allied countries such as Ukraine or Israel. The federal police (FBI) and the Pentagon took up the case on Friday, April 7, after a first publication of the New York Times the day before, followed by all the press. The extent of this leak remains unknown, as well as its exact origin and the authenticity of all the documents. For this reason, The world cannot at this stage cite specific elements of the notes circulating on social networks, due to the risks of instrumentalization and manipulation, and the impossibility of verifying their content.
Some of these documents bore the letterhead « NOFORN », meaning they could not be shared with foreign nationals. Others were intended to be passed on to other members of the Five Eyes partnership (UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). THE Washington Postwhich examined about fifty of these notes, affirms that they would come from all the most strategic American services: the National Security Agency (NSA), the CIA, the intelligence agency of the Pentagon and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) , which notably manages spy satellites.
The documents concern the Middle East as well as China or South Korea. The country made most vulnerable by these leaks, dating from late February to early March, is Ukraine, as kyiv prepares a military counter-offensive to repel Russian forces. Part of the troop and casualty statistics on both sides appear to have been intentionally tampered with, indicating a possible informational intoxication operation by Moscow. “It’s a bluff, dust in the eyes”commented Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior Ukrainian official.
Identify the primary origin of the breach
According to New York Times, some of the notes intended for the American army staff draw up a precise operational inventory, on a daily basis, of the forces present in the Donbass, but going back several weeks. They also evoke the situation around the city of Bakhmout, the site of fierce fighting for months. The documents would also make it possible to see the exceptional quality of the information available to the Americans on Russian operations and strikes, but also on the activities of the GRU, the Russian military intelligence service.
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