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An unknown person has published documents from the US Department of Defense. These are now doing the rounds on social media. Including: Highly sensitive information about the war in Ukraine, US defense and China.
According to Mick Mulroy, a former senior Pentagon official, the leak of the classified documents represented “a significant breach of security.” And where did they first appear?
The Bellingcat tracking platform has the answers to these questions. And they are more absurd than you can imagine. The documents appeared on Discord – a chat platform popular with gamers.
Minecraft, YouTube – Pentagon Documents!
It all started on an innocent Discord server where a group of friends met to chat about video games and other things. But then something unexpected happened: a new user joined the group and started sharing the explosive documents.
Oddly enough, the Discord channels on which the March documents were posted centered around the computer game Minecraft and the fandom of a Philippine YouTube star. Only then were they shared on the 4chan imageboard, which is mainly used by right-wing extremists, and on the Telegram messenger app.
But who is this mysterious informant? Nobody knows for sure. Some believe it is a US defense insider who decided to get the truth out. Others say it’s a troll just trying to cause a stir. His identity will probably never be proven.
Leaks are an intelligence community’s nightmare
But the fact is: the leaks are a nightmare for the secret services. According to the New York Times, the more than 100 classified documents contain information about Ukraine, China and the Middle East. The documents also contain details of US and NATO aid to Ukraine.
However, inaccuracies and manipulated images raise doubts. For Australian military expert Mick Ryan, the leak – manipulated or not – is clear: “This is a dream come true for Xi and Putin.”
On Twitter he warns that these published documents could lead to a loss of confidence in the secret services. And this at a time when the work of these services is more important than ever, especially for Western countries in light of the war in Ukraine.
US Department of Justice is investigating incident
The US Department of Justice has now responded and has launched an investigation into classified documents circulated on the Internet. “We have spoken to the Department of Defense about this matter and have launched an investigation,” a Justice Department spokesman in Washington told AFP news agency Saturday night (local time).
The Pentagon said Friday it was investigating the leak and had officially notified the Justice Department of the matter.
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
