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Breaking - Pentagon dealing with security leak of Ukraine war plans
From The NY Times:
Ukraine War Plans Leak Prompts Pentagon Investigation
Classified documents detailing secret American and NATO plans have appeared on Twitter and Telegram.
WASHINGTON — Classified war documents detailing secret American and NATO plans for building up the Ukrainian military ahead of a planned offensive against Russia were posted this week on social media channels, senior Biden administration officials said.
The Pentagon is investigating who may have been behind the leak of the documents, which appeared on Twitter and on Telegram, a platform with more than half a billion users that is widely available in Russia.
Military analysts said the documents appear to have been modified in certain parts from their original format, overstating American estimates of Ukrainian war dead and understating estimates of Russian troops killed.
The modifications could point to an effort of disinformation by Moscow, the analysts said. But the disclosures in the original documents, which appear as photographs of charts of anticipated weapons deliveries, troop and battalion strengths, and plans, represents a significant breach of American intelligence in the effort to aid Ukraine.
Biden officials were working to get them deleted but had not, as of Thursday evening, succeeded.
“We are aware of the reports of social media posts and the department is reviewing the matter,” said Sabrina Singh, the deputy press secretary at the Pentagon.
emphasis added
The documents are 5 weeks old so they don’t reveal the most current plans — but they are still full of valuable information for Russia. They’ve also, as emphasized above, likely been edited by parties unknown to spread disinformation.
This is a major coup for Russian intelligence efforts, although it is not yet known exactly where or by who the documents were obtained. (It’s doubtless also giving the tankies a warm fuzzy.)
This is going to complicate US-Ukraine cooperation. It’s only been in recent months that Ukraine has been willing to share information.
But early on during the war, Ukrainian officials were hesitant about sharing their battle plans with the United States, for fear of leaks, American and European officials said. As recently as last summer, American intelligence officials said they often had a better understanding of Russia’s military plans than of Ukraine’s.
That it also gives us in the general public a glimpse of what is going on is perhaps a plus. Time will tell, but this is not good news and there will likely be further developments.
Thomas Gibbons-Neff contributed reporting.
Helene Cooper is a Pentagon correspondent. She was previously an editor, diplomatic correspondent and White House correspondent, and was part of the team awarded the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting, for its coverage of the Ebola epidemic. @helenecooper
Eric Schmitt is a senior writer who has traveled the world covering terrorism and national security. He was also the Pentagon correspondent. A member of the Times staff since 1983, he has shared four Pulitzer Prizes. @EricSchmittNYT
That this is coming out just as a report of the pull-out from Afghanistan has been made public is going to ramp up the continuing efforts by the GOP to derail the Biden administration. Republicans are already throwing a giant hissy fit because the withdrawal report places part of the blame for the chaos on Trump.
--https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/6/2162544/-Breaking-Pentagon-dealing-with-security-leak-of-Ukraine-war-plans--