United States documents leak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Last updated

In April 2023, two sets of classified documents of the United States began circulating on Twitter, Telegram, and 4chan. The documents, primarily relating to the Russo-Ukrainian War, included details about foreign nations, including North Korea, China, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. The documents began spreading on the instant messaging platform Discord, and allegedly originate from a Discord server known as "Thug Shaker Central", according to a Bellingcat investigation. A subset of documents were sent to Discord servers for a British-Filipino YouTuber and the sandbox video game Minecraft in late February and early March. In April, a 4chan user posted several documents on the website's political imageboard /pol/. The documents were then spread throughout pro-Russian Telegram channels; at least one image was altered to show more Ukrainian casualties than Russian casualties.

Contents

The documents concern intelligence that the United States has on other nations, and contain operational briefs from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Regarding the Russo-Ukrainian War, the documents suggest difficulties for both Russians and Ukrainians, in equal part; while one slide suggests that more Russians have died in the war than Ukrainians, several documents covering the Battle of Bakhmut suggest difficulties for Ukrainians in countering Russian flanking maneuvers and supply shortages in the area. Additionally, relations between Russia and other nations are covered, with multiple documents detailing efforts by Russian military intelligence agency GRU and paramilitary organization Wagner Group in promoting Russian ideals while downplaying American values. Other documents reveal attempts by Wagner Group to acquire weapons in Turkey, a NATO member. One set of documents alleges that Mossad encouraged staff and citizens to participate in judicial reform protests.

The leak has spurred a diplomatic crisis between the United States and the Five Eyes. An interagency effort—composed of the Department of Defense, the White House, the Department of State, and the U.S. intelligence community—are assessing the leak. Concurrently, the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation have opened a criminal inquiry into the leaker. U.S. officials have accused Russia of being behind the leak. [1] [2] Ukraine and Russia have downplayed the leak, with both countries saying that the documents contain distorted figures. Specific claims in the leaks have been denied by some countries, such as by South Korea [3] and Egypt. [4]

Background and initial release

In October 2021, the United States became aware of efforts by Russian president Vladimir Putin to quickly increase military spending in Russia by diverting funds from the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Using satellite imagery, intercepted communications, and sources within Russia, the U.S. believed that Putin intended to seize Kyiv. Speaking to President Joe Biden, Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Russia would attempt a multidirectional shock and awe attack. [5] Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, the United States has provided the Ukrainian government with intelligence on Russia. Representative Adam Smith, then the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, said that the U.S. provides "some intelligence" to Ukraine on MSNBC's Morning Joe , but reserved that the U.S. was not providing the "kind of real-time targeting" that the U.S. has provided in other conflicts. Then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki commented that the U.S. provided more significant intelligence than what Smith described. Responding to Politico , a spokesperson for Smith called the United States' intelligence "rapid". [6]

The origins of the documents are unclear, but believed to have been first posted to a large audience in a Discord server for British-Filipino YouTuber wow_mao. wow_mao, who holds an interest in geopolitics and history, took the opportunity to encourage viewers to donate to his Patreon. [7] The documents were posted on March 1 and March 2; on March 4, a separate user posted a subset of the documents to a Minecraft Discord server. A Bellingcat investigation found that a user in a server known as "Thug Shaker Central" for a YouTuber known as Oxide may have originally posted the documents, although these claims could not be confirmed. Several sources interviewed by Bellingcat stated that the documents were posted as far back as October 2022, and were posted by a server administrator in a channel about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. [8] Speaking to The Washington Post , Oxide—who currently serves in the United States Army in the Pacific Northwest—told the publication that he had banned various users in his own Discord server a year prior, including some for posting a meme video of a black man in a gay porn film, dubbed the "thug shaker". The banned users then moved to the Thug Shaker Central server. [9]

A month later, an anonymous user on the /pol/ imageboard on 4chan posted several images of the documents, with the user's sequence of documents circulating throughout pro-Russian Telegram channels. One such channel, "Donbass Devushka", was attributed to the first of these images. The images posted to Donbass Devushka and to /pol/ are identical, except for one image, where the number of Ukrainian casualties outweighs Russian ones, suggesting that Donbass Devushka altered the image. [10] The New York Times initially reported on the documents two days after they were posted on Telegram. [11] The documents continued to be spread on Twitter. According to a policy page, the social media platform disallows the spread of hacked materials. In response to a tweet about the leak, Twitter CEO Elon Musk sarcastically wrote that "you can totally delete things from the Internet" and "that works perfectly and doesn't draw attention to whatever you were trying to hide at all", seemingly alluding to the Streisand effect and suggesting that Twitter would not take down the documents. [12] In contrast, Discord is "cooperating with law enforcement" in regards to the leak. [13]

Contents

The documents—primarily in the form of pictures of charts and graphs—concern intelligence that the United States holds on other nations, including North Korea, China, and Iran, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. [14] The number of documents is estimated to be over 100 pages. The documents appeared online as photographs of documents atop an apparent hunting magazine, with other objects such as zip lock bags and Gorilla Glue scattered throughout the photographs. [15] Senior U.S. officials have attested to their legitimacy, believing that the documents are intelligence and operational briefs from the Joint Staff within the Pentagon. The documents appear to be compiled from multiple sources, including the National Security Agency (NSA), the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) of the State Department, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); in the lattermost case, one section of the documents originates from a daily intelligence update. [16]

In releasing the documents, the documents were first photographed and then uploaded online. According to Javed Ali, a former U.S. counter-terrorism official, the uploader of the documents may have taken steps to conceal their IP address and timestamps from the photographs in an effort to feign anonymity. The classified material would have been limited to a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF), where electronic devices connected to the Internet are prohibited. A senior U.S. official stated that hundreds—potentially thousands—of government officials may have obtained the documents. [17]

Russo-Ukrainian War

Battle of Bakhmut

The Battle of Bakhmut is mentioned in the documents Destroyed Bakhmut.jpg
The Battle of Bakhmut is mentioned in the documents

One document dated late February 2023 detailed Russian flanking maneuvers near Bakhmut, discussions by the Ukrainian military about how to respond, and supply shortages in the area. [18] An intelligence assessment states that as of February 25, Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut were nearly encircled; a senior Ukrainian official noted that morale was low among Ukrainian soldiers. Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's director of military intelligence, described the Ukrainian position as "catastrophic", and offered to deploy elite units to safeguard the single supply line and prevent encirclement. Deployment of reinforcements, including elite units, ultimately prevented the encirclement, but at a strategic cost, depleting seasoned forces that may have been in reserve for the spring counter-offensive. [19]

Casualty estimates

The documents also cover information on U.S.-provided military resources Ukraine has access to, [20] purported Pentagon estimates on Russian and Ukrainian casualties, [1] and alleged information on Ukraine's planned counteroffensive. [21] Several documents also offer "low confidence" estimates for the number of casualties, with the U.S. estimating 189,500 to 223,000 Russian casualties, compared to 124,500 to 131,000 Ukrainian casualties. [22]

Russian military planning

The documents reveal that Russia is taking steps to combat NATO-provided tanks, such as the M1 Abrams (pictured) Front view of an Australian M1A1 tank during Koolendong 2021.jpg
The documents reveal that Russia is taking steps to combat NATO-provided tanks, such as the M1 Abrams (pictured)

In one top secret document, plans by the Russian General Staff to counter NATO-provided tanks were detailed. One such plan involves paying Russian soldiers who destroy NATO tanks. [22] The documents also shows U.S. awareness of Russian military planning, such as plans to destroy a hangar containing drones near Odesa. [16]

Russia-NATO aircraft encounters and near shootdown

According to one document, a Russian fighter jet nearly shot down a British surveillance plane off of the coast of Crimea. The incident, referred to as a "near-shootdown" of a Rivet Joint—a moniker referring to a variant of Boeing RC-135s—from the United Kingdom, occurred in September 2022. The incident was disclosed in October by Ben Wallace, the Secretary of State for Defence, to the House of Commons. Wallace specifically named two Sukhoi Su-27 jets as flying "recklessly", with one of the jets firing a missile at the Rivet Joint; Wallace believed the firing was a technical issue. Under the North Atlantic Treaty, such an attack could have provoked a larger response from NATO as a whole had the missile hit the plane. The document, labeled as classified for non-U.S. citizens, was among others detailing encounters that Russian fighter jets had with foreign aircraft, including the 2023 Black Sea drone incident. According to the document, French and British aircraft flew crewed reconnaissance flights between the near-shootdown and February 26, 2023. [23] Two U.S. defense officials later stated that the pilot of the Russian fighter jet misunderstood commands from a radar operator. [24]

Weapons use by Ukraine

The documents suggest that Ukraine's air defense against aircraft—largely made up of the S-300 and Buk missile systems—will be depleted by May. [25] Several documents refer to Ukraine using weapons within Russia. According to one document, in late February, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to strike within the Rostov Oblast. Another document states that China could increase aid to Russia if Ukraine struck within Russia. [15] The documents also exposed LAPIS, an advanced satellite system used by the Ukrainian military. [26]

Countries

Russia

A document details efforts by the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency, to engage in information warfare in Africa that promoted "Russian foreign policy" while downplaying public opinion about the United States. [16] The Russian paramilitary organization Wagner Group is also mentioned. One document states that Wagner Group emissaries met with authorities from Turkey in February, suggesting that Wagner Group could obtain the weapons from an outpost in Mali. [27] The intelligence findings suggest that Wagner chief's Yevgeny Prigozhin's claims that the Russian Defense Ministry has been skimping on ammunition supplies to Wagner may have been grounded in fact. [27] Another document provides an estimate of the number of Wagner personnel in Mali, noting that the large Wagner presence has raised security concerns in neighboring Ivory Coast. [27]

A Defense Intelligence Agency analysis discovered in the leak found that peace talks between the U.S. and Russia are unlikely, even if Ukraine is able to mount "unsustainable losses on Russian forces". Previous documents show that U.S. intelligence does not believe Ukraine can yield significant gains with their counteroffensive. [28]

China

Analysis on risks posed by China are mentioned throughout the documents. An assessment found that NATO-provided weaponry could draw China into the war. Another document overviews a test of the DF-27, a ballistic missile of the Dongfeng family of missiles, that could penetrate U.S. ballistic missile defense systems. A section of the documents details a potential deployment of British naval aircraft carriers in the Indo-Pacific. Other information in the documents leak include investments in Nicaragua, a satellite rocket launch in March, and a new Chinese warship. [29]

Egypt

Several documents allege that Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (right) planned to sell rockets to Russia Sisi and Putin Visit to Moskava 7.jpg
Several documents allege that Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (right) planned to sell rockets to Russia

One document overviews conversations between Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the president of Egypt, and senior Egyptian military officials, over the production and shipment of some 40,000 rockets, and references plans by Egypt to sell artillery and gunpowder to Russia. Sisi attempted to keep the supply a secret in order to "avoid problems with 'the West'". Workers were told that the rockets were for the Egyptian army. The document references a person known only as Salah al-Din, believed to be Mohamed Salah al-Din, the minister of state for military production. Salah al-Din reportedly told Sisi that he would "order his people to work shift work if necessary" in order to repay Russia for unknown help. In addition, Sisi considered selling "ordinary stuff" to China to produce more Sakr-45 rocket launchers. [30] Egyptian officials rejected the allegation of Egyptian rocket exports to Russia; separately, Russian officials also called it a hoax. [4]

Iran

The documents suggest that the U.S. has been able to surveil Iran. In one document, senior Iranian leaders are described discussing an upcoming visit by Rafael Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and how to alter domestic news coverage. The document also suggests the U.S. has been able to monitor the IAEA. [29]

Hungary

One document from a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) intelligence updates states that Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban called the U.S. one of the country's "top three adversaries". [29]

Serbia

The leaked documents also alleged that Serbia supplied weapons to Ukraine in its defense against Russia, or had agreed to do so, despite Serbia refusing to economically sanction Russia. [31]

South Korea

The documents describe internal debates in South Korea regarding a request by the U.S. to provide Korean artillery shells to Ukraine, about whether it would violate South Korea's policy on lethal aid if the U.S. then sent them to Ukraine. These debates were obtained through signals intelligence conducted by the CIA. [16] South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol described the leaked documents as "utterly false ... compromising national interest". [3] In a phone call between U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his counterpart in South Korea, both countries agreed that large portions of the South Korea-related documents were fabricated. [3] [32] [33]

Israel

The documents show how the U.S. sought to pressure Israel into providing lethal aid. Israel has previously denied Ukraine weaponry, including its Iron Dome air defense system. Out of four options pressed by the U.S., Israel was most likely to engage in the "Turkish model", providing weaponry to Ukraine through third-parties while remaining cordial with Russia. [34]

One set of documents alleges that the Mossad—the national intelligence agency of Israel—encouraged staff and citizens to participate in judicial reform protests that flared up in January, following a series of changes supported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to the documents, director David Barnea supported junior employees participating in the protests under the guise of anonymity. The Israeli government issued a statement denying the claims, and Israeli political commentators noted that the document appear to confuse permission with encouragement, and the actions of current and former Mossad employees. [35]

Turkey

According to Reuters, Wagner personnel intended to purchase weapons and equipment from Turkey in order to use them in Mali and Ukraine. [36] [37] Leaked documents also say that the President of Mali Assimi Goïta confirmed that Mali could acquire weapons from Turkey on Wagner’s behalf. [37]

Canada

Several documents allege that Russian cybercriminal group Zarya, acting under the direction of the Federal Security Service, compromised the IP address of an unnamed Canadian gas company and were capable of increasing valve pressure, disabling alarms, and shutting down pipelines. The reports were not confirmed. [38]

Haiti

The documents allege that the Wagner Group is actively seeking to undermine U.S. operations in Africa, and is seeking to expand its operation into Haiti, offering to combat violent gangs on behalf of the Haitian government. [27]

United Arab Emirates

The documents include information about American military ally United Arab Emirates' (UAE) ties with Russia, [39] [40] and the proposed creation of a Russian weapons repair facility in the UAE. The UAE operates weaponry from Russia, including Pantsir air defense systems and BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles. An unaddressed concern was whether the repair of Russian weapons in the Emirates would also include Moscow's weapons that might be supplied to Kremlin forces invading Ukraine. [39]

Leaked Russian intelligence surveilled by the U.S. indicated that Russian spies were boasting about an alleged intelligence alliance between Moscow and Abu Dhabi against the U.S. and U.K. This claim, supported only from the Russian side, was denied by Abu Dhabi as "categorically false". [41]

Sources and methods

In addition to the intelligence findings themselves, the leaked documents also reveal the sources and methods of intelligence gathering, for example revealing that the CIA is using signals intelligence to spy on discussions inside the Russian Defense Ministry, as well as to eavesdrop on the South Korean and Israeli governments, [42] and individuals associated with the Wagner Group. [27] One document states that the U.S. has been spying on Zelenskyy. [15] The leak further reveals which Russian agencies have been penetrated by U.S. intelligence. The leak imperils future intelligence gathering efforts as targeted governments take countermeasures and patch up revealed vulnerabilities, and also threatens human sources and whistleblowers in Russian organizations. [42] [15]

One document regarding the Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, reveals that the U.S. has been spying on António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations. [43]

Investigations

The Department of Defense are assessing the leak, along with the White House, the State Department, and other intelligence agencies. [11] [17] The Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has opened a criminal inquiry into the leaker. [44] [40] [17] According to Brandon Van Grack, who led the Department of Justice investigation into Edward Snowden, the Department of Justice and FBI are reviewing who may have posted the documents. Van Grack also stated that the investigation into the leak may impair the FBI investigation into Donald Trump's handling of government documents and the special counsel investigation into classified documents discovered at the Penn Biden Center and Biden's home. [45]

Reactions

United States

The documents leak began a diplomatic crisis between the U.S. and the Five Eyes, with officials in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and Ukraine questioning the U.S. as to how the documents surfaced online. U.S. officials told allies that the Biden administration was investigating the leak. [46] Wendy Sherman, the Deputy Secretary of State, has been tapped to lead the diplomatic response to the leak. [47] U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin described the investigation as "We will continue to investigate and turn over every rock until we find the source of this and the extent of it." [48]

According to a senior U.S. official, the Biden administration is looking into expanding its monitoring of social media sites as a result of the leak. [49]

Ukraine

Ukrainian presidential advisor and peace negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak said that the leak contained a "very large amount of fictitious information" which appeared to be "standard elements of operational games by Russian intelligence and nothing more." [14] Ukrainian defense intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov said "in recent decades, the Russian special services’ most successful operations have been taking place in Photoshop... we see false, distorted figures on losses on both sides, with part of the information collected from open sources." On the same day Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a statement about a meeting with military staff in part "focused on measures to prevent the leakage of information." [44]

Quoted by the The New York Times , Ukrainian Lieutenant Colonel Yuriy Bereza said, "We can no longer determine where is the truth and where is the lie ... We are at that stage of the war when the information war is sometimes even more important than the direct physical clashes at the front." [50]

Russia

Russian military analyst Yuri Kotenok claimed the slides might have been planted by the U.S. to mislead Russia and downplay the strength and readiness of Ukrainian brigades before an offensive. [50] [39] Kyle Walter of British firm Logically, which researches disinformation, says most voices on Russian-speaking Telegram were calling the leak a Western false flag. [1] Conversely, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the leaks were "quite interesting", [51] though also denied specific claims in the leak such as alleged proposal for Egyptian rocket exportation to Russia. [4]

South Korea

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, called the U.S. spying on South Korea a "disappointing act" Lee Jae-myung presidential candidate portrait.jpg
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, called the U.S. spying on South Korea a "disappointing act"

South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol defended the country's relationship with U.S. and downplayed the leak, while opposition lawmakers from the Democratic Party of Korea expressed disdain. Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, said that the leaks "[undermine] the South Korea-U.S. alliance". Kim Tae-hyo, a deputy national security advisor to Yoon, denied the veracity of conversations detailed in the documents. [52]

Analysis

A researcher of information operations, Thomas Rid, said "The fact that unedited and edited – doctored – versions of some files are available online makes me skeptical that this is a professional Russian intelligence operation", because the falsification of casualties and other details "only makes it easier to detect the facts, and thus defeats the purpose." According to Rid and CNN, if the details were both stolen by Russia and useful to Russia, they would not have publicized both the doctored and original versions, since it would weaken their impact. [40]

Journalist Marcy Wheeler drew attention to the server the documents originated from, noting Thug Shaker Central's conservative leanings and focus on Orthodox Christianity. Wheeler connected the server's members to three Marines who had their security clearance increased following the January 6 United States Capitol attack, in which they participated. In lieu of an official name, Wheeler named the leaks the "Thug Shaker Leaks". [53]

The documents leak has been compared to the 2010—2011 United States diplomatic cables leak by WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden's disclosures of global surveillance information. In comparison to these leaks, the documents leak contains relatively recent information on the Russian invasion of Ukraine that could be used against Ukraine, presenting a far more drastic leak. [54]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Ellsberg</span> American analyst and whistleblower who released the Pentagon Papers

Daniel Ellsberg is an American political activist, and former United States military analyst. While employed by the RAND Corporation, Ellsberg precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of the U.S. government decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War, to The New York Times, The Washington Post and other newspapers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Espionage Act of 1917</span> United States federal law

The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law enacted on June 15, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code but is now found under Title 18. Specifically, it is 18 U.S.C. ch. 37

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GRU (Russian Federation)</span> Russian military intelligence agency

The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formerly the Main Intelligence Directorate, and still commonly known by its previous abbreviation GRU, is the foreign military intelligence agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The GRU controls the military intelligence service and maintains its own special forces units.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lloyd Austin</span> 28th United States Secretary of Defense (born 1953)

Lloyd James Austin III is a retired United States Army four-star general who, since his appointment on January 22, 2021, has served as the 28th United States Secretary of Defense. He is the first African American to serve as the United States Secretary of Defense. Austin previously served as the 12th commander of United States Central Command (CENTCOM) from 2013 to 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyberwarfare</span> Use of digital attacks against a nation

Cyberwarfare is the use of cyber attacks against an enemy state, causing comparable harm to actual warfare and/or disrupting vital computer systems. Some intended outcomes could be espionage, sabotage, propaganda, manipulation or economic warfare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russia–United States relations</span> Bilateral relations

Russia and the United States maintain one of the most important, critical and strategic foreign relations in the world. Both nations have shared interests in nuclear safety and security, nonproliferation, counterterrorism, and space exploration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WikiLeaks</span> News leak publishing organisation

WikiLeaks is an NGO owned by Icelandic company Sunshine Press Productions ehf that runs a website that has published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. It was founded by Julian Assange, an Australian editor, publisher, and activist, who is currently fighting extradition to the United States over his work with WikiLeaks. Since September 2018, Kristinn Hrafnsson has served as its editor-in-chief. Its website stated in 2015 that it had released online 10 million documents since beginning in 2006 in Iceland. WikiLeaks' most recent publication was in 2021 and its most recent publication of original documents was in 2019. Beginning in November 2022, many of the documents could not be accessed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ukraine–United States relations</span> Bilateral relations

The United States officially recognized the independence of Ukraine on December 25, 1991. The United States upgraded its consulate in the capital, Kyiv, to embassy status on January 21, 1992. In 2002, relations between the United States and Ukraine deteriorated after one of the recordings made during the Cassette Scandal revealed an alleged transfer of a sophisticated Ukrainian defense system to Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Pentagon</span> Headquarters of the US Department of Defense in Arlington, Virginia

The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase The Pentagon is often used as a metonym for the Department of Defense and its leadership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evelyn Farkas</span> American intelligence analyst

Evelyn Nicolette Farkas is an American national security advisor, author, and foreign policy analyst. She is the current Executive Director of the McCain Institute, a nonprofit focused on democracy, human rights, and character-driven leadership.

Cyberwarfare by Russia includes denial of service attacks, hacker attacks, dissemination of disinformation and propaganda, participation of state-sponsored teams in political blogs, internet surveillance using SORM technology, persecution of cyber-dissidents and other active measures. According to investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov, some of these activities were coordinated by the Russian signals intelligence, which was part of the FSB and formerly a part of the 16th KGB department. An analysis by the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2017 outlines Russia's view of "Information Countermeasures" or IPb as "strategically decisive and critically important to control its domestic populace and influence adversary states", dividing 'Information Countermeasures' into two categories of "Informational-Technical" and "Informational-Psychological" groups. The former encompasses network operations relating to defense, attack, and exploitation and the latter to "attempts to change people's behavior or beliefs in favor of Russian governmental objectives."

The Afghan War documents leak, also called the Afghan War Diary, is the disclosure of a collection of internal U.S. military logs of the War in Afghanistan, which were published by WikiLeaks on 25 July 2010. The logs consist of over 91,000 Afghan War documents, covering the period between January 2004 and December 2009. Most of the documents are classified secret. As of 28 July 2010, only 75,000 of the documents have been released to the public, a move which WikiLeaks says is "part of a harm minimization process demanded by [the] source". Prior to releasing the initial 75,000 documents, WikiLeaks made the logs available to The Guardian, The New York Times and Der Spiegel in its German and English online edition, which published reports in line with an agreement made earlier the same day, 25 July 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald Trump's disclosures of classified information</span> Disclosures by the 21st-century US president

Donald Trump's handling of government records, especially those containing classified information, during his presidency has come under scrutiny. A number of incidents in which the president disclosed classified information to foreign powers and private individuals have become publicly known, sometimes with distinct national security and diplomatic consequences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wagner Group</span> Russian private military company

The Wagner Group, also known as PMC Wagner, is a Russian paramilitary organization. It is variously described as a private military company (PMC), a network of mercenaries, or a de facto private army of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The group operates beyond the law in Russia, where private military contractors are officially forbidden. While the Wagner Group itself is not ideologically driven, various elements of Wagner have been linked to neo-Nazism and far-right extremism.

Amanda Macias is an American journalist who reports on national security subjects for CNBC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pentagon UFO videos</span> Cockpit instrumentation display videos from US Navy jets, widely publicized as UFOs

The Pentagon UFO videos are selected visual recordings of cockpit instrumentation displays from United States Navy fighter jets based aboard aircraft carriers USS Nimitz and USS Theodore Roosevelt in 2004, 2014 and 2015, with additional footage taken by other Navy personnel in 2019. The four grainy, monochromic videos, widely characterized as officially documenting UFOs, have received extensive coverage in the media since 2017. The Pentagon later addressed and officially released the first three videos of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) in 2020, and confirmed the provenance of the leaked 2019 videos in two statements made in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Bakhmut</span> Battle in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

The Battle of Bakhmut is an ongoing series of military engagements in and near the city of Bakhmut between Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Russian Armed Forces during the larger battle for Donbas. While the shelling of Bakhmut began in May 2022, the main assault towards the city started on 1 August after Russian forces advanced from the Popasna direction, following a Ukrainian withdrawal from that front. The main assault force primarily consists of mercenaries from the Russian paramilitary organization Wagner Group, supported by regular Russian troops and DPR and LPR separatist elements.

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on 24 February 2022, the possibility of Russia using tactical nuclear weapons, and the risk of broader nuclear escalation, has been widely discussed by commentators and in the media. Several senior Russian politicians, including president Vladimir Putin, former president and party leader Dmitry Medvedev, and foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, have made a number of statements widely seen as threatening the use of nuclear weapons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage</span> Gas pipe explosions in the Nord Stream pipelines

On 26 September 2022, a series of clandestine bombings and subsequent underwater gas leaks occurred on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines. Both pipelines were built to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea, and are majority owned by the Russian majority state-owned gas company, Gazprom. The perpetrators' identities and the motives behind the sabotage remain debated.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "New Batch of Classified Documents Appear on Social Media Sites". The New York Times . April 7, 2023. Archived from the original on April 7, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  2. ↑ Stewart, Phil; Stewart, Phil (April 8, 2023). "Russia likely behind U.S. military document leak, U.S. officials say". Reuters. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 Choi, Soo-Hyang (April 11, 2023). "South Korea says leaked US intel document 'untrue', amid spying allegations". Reuters. Archived from the original on April 11, 2023. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 Chernova, Anna; Salem, Mostafa (April 11, 2023). "Egyptian official rejects leaked intelligence suggesting nation's military was producing weapons for Russia". CNN. Archived from the original on April 12, 2023. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  5. ↑ Harris, Shane; DeYoung, Karen; Khurshudyan, Isabelle (August 16, 2022). "The Post examined the lead-up to the Ukraine war. Here's what we learned". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on March 14, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  6. ↑ Ward, Alexander; Forgey, Quint (March 3, 2022). "Is the U.S. providing Ukraine with targeting intel? Maybe". Politico . Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  7. ↑ Browning, Kellen; Thompson, Stuart (April 11, 2023). "An Online Meme Group Is at the Center of Uproar Over Leaked Military Secrets". The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 11, 2023. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  8. ↑ Borger, Julian (April 10, 2023). "Leak of secret US defense papers could be 'tip of the iceberg', report says". The Guardian . Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  9. ↑ Harwell, Drew (April 12, 2023). "Leak of military secrets on Discord marks a new step for social media". The Washington Post . Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  10. ↑ Toler, Aric (April 9, 2023). "From Discord to 4chan: The Improbable Journey of a US Intelligence Leak". Bellingcat. Archived from the original on April 9, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  11. 1 2 De Luce, Dan (April 7, 2023). "U.S. officials believe 'leaked' U.S. classified documents about Ukraine war strength may be real". NBC News. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  12. ↑ Mac, Ryan; Browning, Kellen (April 8, 2023). "Why Leaked Pentagon Documents Are Still Circulating on Social Media". The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  13. ↑ Browning, Kellen (April 10, 2023). "What Is Discord, the Social App Where Leaked Pentagon Documents Were Found?". The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  14. 1 2 "Ukraine, North Korea and Iran included in leaked documents". ABC News. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Bertrand, Natasha; Atwood, Kylie (April 9, 2023). "Leaked Pentagon documents provide rare window into depth of US intelligence on allies and foes". CNN. Archived from the original on April 9, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Barnes, Julian; Cooper, Helene; Gibbons-Neff, Thomas; Schwirtz, Michael; Schmitt, Eric (April 8, 2023). "Leaked Documents Reveal Depth of U.S. Spy Efforts and Russia's Military Struggles". The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  17. 1 2 3 Barnes, Julian; Schmitt, Eric; Cooper, Helene (April 10, 2023). "Clues Left Online Might Aid Leak Investigation, Officials Say". The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  18. ↑ Kramer, Andrew (April 8, 2023). "Leaked document shows the dire nature of battle for Bakhmut". The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  19. ↑ Kramer, Andrew E. (April 8, 2023). "Leaked Document Shows Dire Nature of the Battle for Bakhmut". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 9, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  20. ↑ Bertrand, Natasha; Chance, Matthew (April 7, 2023). "Pentagon investigating alleged classified documents circulating on social media of US and NATO intelligence on Ukraine | CNN Politics". CNN. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  21. ↑ Tondo, Lorenzo. "Pentagon investigates reported leak of top-secret Ukraine documents". The Guardian . Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  22. 1 2 Gibbons-Neff, Thomas (April 9, 2023). "Russia promises bonus pay to troops who destroy NATO tanks, documents say". The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 9, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  23. ↑ Lamothe, Dan (April 9, 2023). "Russia nearly shot down British spy plane near Ukraine, leaked document says". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on April 9, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  24. ↑ Gibbons-Neff, Thomas; Schmitt, Eric (April 12, 2023). "Miscommunication Nearly Led to Russian Jet Shooting Down British Spy Plane, U.S. Officials Say". The New York Times . Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  25. ↑ Cooper, Helene; Schwirtz, Michael; Gibbons-Neff, Thomas (April 9, 2023). "Leaked Documents Suggest Ukrainian Air Defense Is in Peril if Not Reinforced". The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 9, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  26. ↑ Harris, Shane; Lamothe, Dan (April 8, 2023). "Intelligence leak exposes U.S. spying on adversaries and allies". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on April 9, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 Schwirtz, Michael (April 8, 2023). "Wagner's influence extends far beyond Ukraine, leaked documents show". The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  28. ↑ Hudson, John (April 12, 2023). "No Russia-Ukraine peace talks expected this year, U.S. leak shows". The Washington Post . Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  29. 1 2 3 Taylor, Adam; Hill, Evan; O'Grady, Siobhán; Coletta, Amanda; Merancourt, Widlore; Morris, Loveday; Cadell, Cate; Warrick, Joby (April 10, 2023). "The key countries and revelations from the Pentagon document leak". The Washington Post . Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  30. ↑ Hill, Evan; Ryan, Missy; O'Grady, Siobhán; Oakford, Samuel (April 10, 2023). "Egypt secretly planned to supply rockets to Russia, leaked U.S. document says". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  31. ↑ "Reuters: Leaked U.S. Intel Document Claims Serbia Agreed To Arm Ukraine". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Archived from the original on April 12, 2023. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  32. ↑ Slawson, Nicola (April 11, 2023). "First Thing: US seeks to mend ties with key allies after Pentagon leaks". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on April 12, 2023. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  33. ↑ AFP. "South Korea Says 'Significant' Number Of Leaked U.S. Documents Are Fake". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Archived from the original on April 12, 2023. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  34. ↑ Kershner, Isabel (April 9, 2023). "Leak suggests U.S. could try to press Israel to provide lethal aid to Ukraine". The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  35. ↑ Bergman, Ronen; Kingsley, Patrick (April 8, 2023). "Documents allege that Israel's spy agency encouraged anti-government protests". The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  36. ↑ Ali, Idrees; Landay, Jonathan (April 10, 2023). "U.S. officials review intel sharing after damaging leak". Reuters. Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  37. 1 2 "Washington Post: Leaked war papers show Wagner Group sought to purchase arms from Turkey". Kyiv Independent. April 9, 2023. Archived from the original on April 9, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  38. ↑ Bilefsky, Dan (April 9, 2023). "A pro-Russian hacking group may have targeted Canada's energy infrastructure". The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 9, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  39. 1 2 3 Rushton, James; Weiss, Michael. "Tranche of purported U.S. and allied military secrets leaked online in possible major intelligence breach". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023. Ironically, pro-Russian commentators who originally saw the Ukraine files as valuable "gotchas" now doubt their authenticity after evidence of their doctoring came to light. Instead, they believe the U.S. or Ukraine released these texts as a psychological operation meant to dupe the Kremlin. ... Meanwhile, Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior Ukrainian official, claimed the leak of the original Ukraine files was a Russian provocation to discredit Kyiv's forthcoming counteroffensive.
  40. 1 2 3 Bertrande, Natasha; Lyngaas, Sean; Rabinowitz, Hannah (April 7, 2023). "DOJ opens investigation into leaks of apparent classified US military documents". CNN. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  41. ↑ "Leaked US intel: Russia operatives claimed new ties with UAE". The Seattle Times. April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  42. 1 2 Barnes, Julian E.; Cooper, Helene; Gibbons-Neff, Thomas; Schwirtz, Michael; Schmitt, Eric (April 8, 2023). "Leaked Documents Reveal Depth of U.S. Spy Efforts and Russia's Military Struggles". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 9, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2023.
  43. ↑ Adams, Paul (April 12, 2023). "Pentagon leaks: US thinks UN head Guterres too accommodating to Moscow, files suggest". BBC . Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  44. 1 2 "US investigating whether Ukraine war documents were leaked". The Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286. Archived from the original on April 9, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  45. ↑ Treisman, Rachel (April 10, 2023). "How will the Ukraine document investigation work? A former DOJ 'leak czar' explains". NPR. Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  46. ↑ Banco, Erin; Ward, Alexander (April 10, 2023). "U.S. in crisis mode with allies after Ukraine intel leak". Politico . Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  47. ↑ Cohen, Zachary; Bertrand, Natasha; Atwood, Kylie (April 10, 2023). "What we know about the major Pentagon intelligence leak". CNN. Archived from the original on April 12, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  48. ↑ Ali, Idrees; Ali, Idrees (April 12, 2023). "US will 'turn over every rock' to find source of leak, says Pentagon chief". Reuters. Archived from the original on April 11, 2023. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  49. ↑ Lee, Carol; Dilanian, Ken; De Luce, Dan. "U.S. intel agencies may change how they monitor social media, chatrooms after missing leaked U.S. documents for weeks". NBC News . Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  50. 1 2 Trofimov, Yaroslav; Youssef, Nancy A. "WSJ News Exclusive | Pentagon Investigates More Social-Media Posts Purporting to Include Secret U.S. Documents". WSJ. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  51. ↑ Osborn, Andrew (April 10, 2023). "Kremlin, asked if Russia behind U.S. intelligence leaks, says Moscow is always blamed for everything". Reuters. Archived from the original on April 11, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  52. ↑ Choe, Sang-hun (April 11, 2023). "Leaked Documents and Accusations of U.S. Spying Spark Outrage in Seoul". The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 11, 2023. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  53. ↑ Wheeler, Marcy (April 9, 2023). "The Thug Shaker Leaks". emptywheel.net. Archived from the original on April 10, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
  54. ↑ Sanger, David (April 9, 2023). "How the Latest Leaked Documents Are Different From Past Breaches". The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 12, 2023. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.