The leaks of classified US documents have complicated Washington’s relations with allies, The New York Times reported, citing US officials.
There are now doubts among allied countries regarding Washington’s ability to keep its secrets, the newspaper said on Saturday, adding that the United States appears to be spying not only on Ukraine, but also such important American allies as Israel and South Korea.
In the excerpts published on social media, there are at least two discussions about Seoul's deliberations about whether to provide the United States artillery shells for use in Ukraine, violating South Korea’s policy on providing lethal aid. According to the newspaper, South Korean officials were said to be concerned that President Joe Biden would call his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk-yeol in order to pressure Seoul to deliver the shells.
A different document, allegedly from the CIA, revealed that the US learned about the internal debate in South Korea from “a signals intelligence report,” a term used for intercepted communications, be it phone calls or e-mails.
“It seems like a massive counterintelligence problem, the fact that this trove of documents was leaked. We are talking about things that could damage our national security and C.I.A. efforts in Europe and around the world,” Representative Mike Gallagher, Republican of Wisconsin and a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said, suggesting that the Biden administration officials will brief lawmakers on the matter when Congress returned to session next week.
According to US officials, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) started an inquiry into the source of the leaks on Friday, the newspaper said. One senior US official told The New York Times that the leak was a "massive intelligence breach."
The leaked documents appear to be legitimate intelligence, but at least one of the documents had been modified from its original, officials said.
Earlier this week, the New York Times reported, citing officials familiar with the matter, that a new batch of classified documents had leaked online that included US national security secrets relating to Ukraine, China, and the Middle East.
A US defense official told Sputnik that the Pentagon was aware of the new batch of leaked classified documents related to Ukraine, the Middle East, and China, and was looking into the matter.
The leaks come following the emergence of purportedly classified documents online related to the conflict in Ukraine, which included NATO and US plans for the conflict and an assessment of air defense capabilities.
