A large cache of what appear to be classified Pentagon documents
circulating on social media channels is becoming a growing source of
anxiety for US intelligence agencies, as numerous allies have been forced
into denials over the purported leaks.

Half a dozen photographs of printed classified documents, mostly
pertaining to the state of the Ukraine war as of the beginning of March,
started to be shared on Russian Telegram channels in the middle of last
week, even though research by open-source intelligence organisation
Bellingcat suggests they made the rounds on niche gaming image boards
several weeks earlier.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/09/leaked-pentagon-documents-draw-denials-from-us-allies

On Friday, a further batch of more than 100 Pentagon documents was being
shared on Twitter, seemingly revealing confidential information that US
spy agencies had obtained, not just about Russia and its war of aggression
against Kyiv, but also about supposed allies such as Israel and South
Korea.

While at least some of the images from the first leak appeared crudely
doctored, the authenticity of the latest batch has not been immediately
questioned. The New York Times described the leak as “a nightmare for the
Five Eyes” – the intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New
Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

On Sunday, the office of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu,
issued a statement in which it firmly rejected a claim made in one of the
leaked documents: that the Israeli foreign intelligence agency had
encouraged its staff and Israeli citizens to participate in March’s wave
of anti-government protests across the country.

“The Mossad and its serving senior personnel have not engaged in the issue
of the demonstrations at all and are dedicated to the value of service to
the state that has guided the Mossad since its founding,” the statement
read.

The leaked document, labelled top secret, said that in February, senior
Mossad officials “advocated for Mossad officials and Israeli citizens to
protest the new Israeli government’s proposed judicial reforms, including
several explicit calls to action that decried the Israeli government,
according to signals intelligence”.

While the Mossad’s purpose is not defined by law, the spy agency is not
meant to wade into domestic political matters.

Government officials in South Korea, meanwhile, said on Sunday they were
aware that another leaked document suggested that US intelligence had
spied on its allies in Seoul, and were planning to “have necessary
consultations with the US side” over issues raised by the leak.

At least two of the leaked Pentagon documents, based at least in part on
intercepted foreign intelligence communications, describe South Korean
concern over US pressure to aid Ukraine in its defensive effort against
Russia, with the former foreign minister Yi Mun-hui expressing concern
that artillery shells requested by Washington for its own use could
ultimately end up in Kyiv’s hands.

South Korea’s longstanding official policy is to not provide lethal
weapons to countries at war. The South Korean presidential official,
speaking to reporters, declined to respond further to questions about US
spying or to confirm any details from the leaked documents.

On Saturday evening, France’s defence ministry denied that there were
French soldiers in Ukraine, as allegedly revealed in one of the leaked
documents that circulated on social media in the middle of last week.

“There are no French forces engaged in operation in Ukraine,” said a
spokesperson for the minister of the armed forces, Sébastien Lecornu. “The
documents cited do not come from the French armies. We do not comment on
documents whose source is uncertain.”

The first batch of leaked Pentagon documents contained charts and details
about anticipated weapons deliveries, battalion strengths and losses on
the battlefield.

One slide suggested that a small contingent of less than 100 special
operations personnel from Nato members France, America, Britain and Latvia
were active in Ukraine.

The US Department of Justice said it has opened an investigation into the
apparent leaks, but declined to comment further.

### - 2 leaks now?? and 'very' embarrassing considering russia could very
easily create a serious diplomatic incident over this... especially
if/when any of these ops should be proven to have directly killed any
russians - or worse should anything previously landing in or damaging
russia itself be tracked directly back to any such nato activities?? (we
suspected they were prolly covertly helping/guiding etc but not to the
extent of a 100-strong independent/active nato-force!? not to mention that
if there's one such active force in operation there's likely to be others?)

gonna be a shit-storm over this!

but hopefully not enough to start ww3...