Leaked documents put US officials on high alert for implications at home and abroad – Money Times

National Security Community to us Two U.S. officials said it faces fallout from the release of dozens of classified documents, including the impact of classified information sharing within the government and on relations with other countries.

Reuters has reviewed more than 50 of the documents, labeled “confidential” and “top secret,” which first appeared on social media sites in early March and allegedly revealed information about Ukraine’s military vulnerabilities and allies. Israel, South Korea This is Turkey itself. The subject didn’t get much attention until Friday’s New York Times article.

Reuters has not independently verified the authenticity of the documents. U.S. officials gave few estimates of battlefield casualties Ukraine It appears to have been changed to reduce Russian losses.

• Join Money Times Telegram! Access news that enriches your day in real time, from the economy and investment markets to relevant topics in Brazil and the world. Click here to participate!

The leak was so alarming inside the Pentagon that the matter was referred to the Justice Department, which opened a criminal investigation into the release of the documents.

Two U.S. defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the Pentagon is reviewing procedures on the extent to which some of America’s most sensitive secrets are shared.

Some of the documents, though top secret, will be available to thousands of people with security clearances from US and allied governments because they directly affect those countries, an official said.

The Pentagon said in a statement on Sunday that the documents are classified as assessing the impact on US national security and close US allies, a standard process called “damage assessment” for information leaks.

The first source said the number of people who had access to the documents underscored that sensitive information may have been over-shared with employees who were not required to detail some of the documents.

“The Pentagon has had to restrict unfettered access to some very sensitive information (without reasonable cause),” the first source declared.

The two officials added that while the leaks are more worrisome, many of them only provided parts from February and March — when they were dated — but did not reveal anything about future operations.

While the release of the documents appears to be the most serious public leak of classified information in years, officials say it falls far short of the scale and scope of the 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables that appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2013.