There is panic in Washington over the classified documents

are they really real Or is it all just fake? When alleged American secret documents appeared on internet platforms such as Discord, doubts were initially high. Is Russia spreading “fake news” here to harm Ukraine?

The Ukraine itself, in particular, had advocated this interpretation. “It’s an ordinary intelligence game,” Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the president’s office, wrote of the newly discovered documents on Twitter on Saturday. The Russian secret services themselves prepared the documents with the aim of sowing doubt and discord among Ukraine’s allies and distracting them from the next phases of the war.

It seems undisputed that forged and forged documents are also in circulation. Experts warn that some have reported higher Ukrainian losses and lower Russian ones. According to media reports, US government officials confirmed that some documents had been clearly manipulated.

But the leak is now over a hundred classified pages. And apparently no one in Washington thinks they’re all fake. On the contrary: the government, secret services and analysts are shocked by the enormous information leak.

“Large leak of classified information”

According to US government officials, many of the documents don’t just look authentic, the Washington Post and the New York Times report. Accordingly, they also contain real information from the US Secret Services, as received by the management levels in the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department.

The FBI launched an investigation Friday to quickly identify the source of the leak. The Pentagon leadership restricted the flow of information in an unusually strict manner, a Post official said, indicating a “high level of panic.”

The US Department of Justice officially took action on Saturday. “We have discussed this with the Ministry of Defense and have launched an investigation,” said a spokesman.

US President Joe Biden was “concerned” about the amount of documents that had become public, a senior administration official told Politico. It was a “massive leak of classified information,” another reported to the New York Times.

Republican Mike Gallagher, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told the New York Times: “It seems to be a huge counterintelligence problem that these documents have become public. We’re talking about things that affect national security and the CIA’s efforts in harm Europe and the rest of the world.”

Information about China, Israel and South Korea

In fact, of course, the documents contain not only information about the Russian offensive war against Ukraine. According to American media, it also includes analysis and information about China, Israel and South Korea. As well as indications that the US also spies on its partners.

The espionage among friends should not really come as a surprise to the latter, but for the Americans so black and white it remains uncomfortable. Especially since there is now additional concern in Washington that friendly secret services could become suspicious of what information they can entrust to the United States.

Concerns about Russian intelligence sources

Nevertheless, the United States fears the biggest repercussions for Russia’s war against Ukraine – and its own ability to thwart President Vladimir Putin’s plans. Because the documents also show how deep American spies have penetrated the Russian security and intelligence services.

The New York Times put it this way: The leak shows that the United States is better informed about Russian military operations than about Ukraine’s plans. And even if that were a bit of an exaggeration, Russia may now have an opportunity to disconnect those services and agencies from the flow of information from which most of the information ends up in the United States. Or even to expose American sources.

It is still too early to determine the actual damage. However, officials in the US media express concern that the flow of information from Moscow could suffer and that this could negatively affect the war in Ukraine.

Mol put documents in his pocket

Information about the war itself could also help Russia. The documents are a few weeks old, Dmitri Alperovitch, head of the Silverado Policy Accelerator think tank, told the Washington Post. Nevertheless, they were able to provide Moscow with valuable information.

According to the expert, the documents do not contain concrete battle plans. However, they showed the type and amount of Western weapons that had arrived on Ukraine’s battlefields, how many soldiers they could use, and how Ukraine intends to defend against Russian attacks.

Meanwhile, finding the source of the leak could get complicated for the US. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of government officials had access to the documents, a New York Times official said. With proper security clearance, employees simply receive such documents in daily emails.

The mole appears to have folded up copies of the documents, put them in his pocket and photographed them in a safe place. The photos show the highly sensitive papers seemingly lying on top of a hunting magazine.