Main Takeaways of Leaked US Intelligence Documents
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announces that a suspect (later identified as Jack Teixera) has been taken into custody following the mass leaks of classified U.S. government documents, Thursday, April 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Numerous classified U.S. military documents covering intelligence assessments of various foreign governments have been leaked online over the course of the past few months. The leak is considered to be one of the largest in recent history and an indictment of existing national security standards.
Bellingcat, a Netherlands-based online investigative journalism group, reported that the documents have been being uploaded onto a Minecraft Discord channel since early March. The images of the documents then spread to other sites like 4Chan before appearing on Twitter, Telegram and finally the mainstream media in recent days.
The leaker, later identified as Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman, has been arrested by authorities. Reportedly, his motive was merely to “show off,” and that he was not intending to be a whistleblower like Daniel Ellsberg or Chelsea Manning.
The leaked documents mainly covered classified U.S. intelligence information surrounding America’s involvement in the ongoing Russo-Ukraine War.
Daniel Ellsberg, the leaker of the Pentagon Papers which revealed damaging U.S. military secrets during the Vietnam War, testifies in front of a House Panel investigating the importance of the leaks, July 28, 1971. (AP Photo)
One leaked classified document suggested that almost 100 NATO special forces personnel are operating inside Ukraine, including 14 Americans.
Others reveal that the US consistently monitors Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s calls with his senior military staff.
The leaks also suggested that Ukraine’s munition supply for its air defenses are running low, a vital concern for Ukrainian officials attempting to keep Russia’s air superiority at bay. In general, Ukraine and Russia appear to be at a stalemate and are unlikely to militarily conclude the war within the near future.
Some of the documents highlighted the degree to which U.S. intelligence agencies have infiltrated the Russian Ministry of Defense, allowing U.S. officials to alert Ukrainian forces of impending attacks and assist in their war strategy.
The Russian mercenary organization Wagner Group, which has reportedly been active alongside Russia’s standard armed forces in Ukraine and Syria, were accused in U.S. intelligence documents of attempting to expand its presence in Africa and Haiti and having “continued influence with Putin.”
Serbia, a traditional ally of Russia, agreed to arm Ukraine according to one document. Serbian Defence Minister Milos Vucevic rejected the report, calling the intel “untrue” and reiterating Serbia’s neutral status.
The documents also show that key U.S. allies in the Middle East are shifting away from the United States and towards Russia. Egypt — a country that receives $1.3 billion in military aid annually — was planning to send rockets and munitions to Russia. An unnamed senior Egyptian official has denied the allegations.
Russian intelligence reportedly has attempted to foster closer ties with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), another key U.S. ally which hosts U.S. military infrastructure. The UAE rejects the allegations.
Other American allies who were revealed to have been spied on by the U.S. include South Korea and Israel.
One report describes in great detail a conversation between two South Korean national security officials who faced a request from the U.S. government to supply Ukraine with ammunition. Knowing that directly sending the aid to Ukraine would violate South Korean neutrality laws, the officials devised a potential plan to first send the ammunition to Poland before it would be sent east towards Ukraine.
South Korean officials have stated that they will soon be addressing the issue with Washington.
Israel’s recent protests were the subject of another leaked report, where the CIA accused Mossad — Israel’s equivalent intelligence agency — of playing a key role in the political unrest. The report accused Mossad of encouraging the protests with “several explicit calls to action.”
Not all are convinced that the documents are real. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov suggested on Wednesday that the documents could be a “deliberate information dump” meant to “mislead the enemy.” Ukraine, on the other hand, believes that the document leaks could be Russian-motivated and has disputed their accuracy.