Leak of classified documents caused crisis in relations between US and its allies

US officials are trying to reassure disappointed and embarrassed allies in Europe, the Middle East and Kyiv after leaking classified information about the war in Ukraine and other global issues.

Source: Politico, citing four sources 

Details: After the leak became known last week, senior officials from the State Department, Pentagon, and US intelligence contacted their foreign counterparts to reassure them.

One source said that members of the Five Eyes, an intelligence alliance of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, had asked Washington for briefings. The requests were sent separately to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the CIA, and the FBI. So far, they have not received a response.

Meanwhile, officials in London, Brussels, Berlin, Dubai, and Kyiv, the newspaper writes, have asked Washington how the information ended up on the Internet, who is responsible for the leak, what the United States is doing to get the information removed from social media, and whether the Biden administration is taking steps to prevent future intelligence leaks.

As of the morning of 10 April, US officials told allies that the administration was investigating and that they were still trying to understand the full extent of the leak, European officials told Politico.

Ukraine has long been concerned that the information it shares with the United States is being leaked to the public, the newspaper writes.

"This case showed that the Ukrainians have been absolutely right about that. Americans now owe the Ukrainians. They have to apologize and compensate," said one of the European officials.

"The saga has left the U.S. relationship with its allies in a state of crisis, raising questions about how Washington will correct what officials worldwide view as one of the largest public breaches of U.S. intelligence since WikiLeaks dumped millions of sensitive documents online from 2006 to 2021," states Politico.

"The manner of the leak and the contents are very unusual. I can’t remember a time when there was this volume of a leak and this broad of a subject matter of authentic information that was just put on social media rather than say, the Snowden files, that went through a group of journalists first," said a former US intelligence analyst who focused on Russia.

A senior US official told the newspaper that only the highest levels of the US government are discussing how to handle the leak. As of 9 April, even senior officials who work on policy toward Ukraine, Russia, and the countries mentioned in the documents did not know how the administration would respond to the leak.

"I have no idea what the plan is. I'd like to know myself how we’re going to handle," another senior U.S. official said. "

At the same time, the newspaper notes, a senior Ukrainian lawmaker said the leak was "not seen as a big issue here".

However, according to one European official, the leak caused outrage among officials in the highest echelons of Ukraine's national security.  

"While the documents are dated and likely have no immediate impact on the country’s battlefield operations, the publishing of the information was viewed internally as an embarrassment and potential long-term security problem for Ukraine's military commanders," writes Politico.

Background:

The US Department of Defence is still assessing the extent of the leak of classified information in recent weeks, which included information on the combat capabilities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the actions of US allies. 

The US State Department claims that the incident with the publication of classified documents from the US Department of Defense will not affect its support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Earlier, the US Department of Justice launched an investigation into the leak of a huge number of US intelligence documents that have been posted on social media in recent weeks.

The US President's Administration does not yet know who is behind the leak of classified military documents. 

According to The Washington Post, secret US documents show that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi planned to produce 40,000 missiles for Russia in February and instructed officials to keep the production and shipment of missiles secret "to avoid problems with the West".

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