The leaked Pentagon documents suggest there was infighting between the Russians and the Ukrainians

The Scenario for Russian State Secret Service: How Public Information is Presented and Disapplied to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense

As with any leak of state secrets, the most impactful revelations long term generally relate to methods and access rather than specific information. That means Russian intelligence, for example, will likely make changes to its operations in response to the relvations to evade American operators. The leak also includes indications that the US has been spying on allies like South Korean and Israeli officials, a move that is not necessarily surprising but diplomatically embarrassing. “We’re Chris Meagher, the US assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, told reporters on Tuesday that he was still investigating how this happened. “There have been steps to take a closer look at how this type of information is distributed and to whom. We are trying to determine what might be out there.

Some reports indicate that more secret documents may have been shared over the last few months, though the initial reporting has focused on 100 documents. The documents are photographs of printed-out presentation slides. Some of the paper had been folded and unfolded, but some of the photos show something else that was on the desk.

The Pentagon Intelligence Briefings in the light of the Nov. 2 Leak: What Do We Need Now Now, and How Will We Get There?

The Pentagon has begun to limit who receives its daily intelligence briefings following a major leak of classified information last week.

The Pentagon’s Joint Staff has cut back on the distribution of its briefings to some US officials who had been receiving them daily, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

The Joint Staff, which has the most senior uniformed leadership in the Department of Defense that advises the president, began looking at its distribution list immediately after learning of the leak of classified documents.

The senior defense official said that all email lists have been reviewed and that some restrictions may be temporary. Everyone on the lists had proper clearance, but not everyone needs to receive that information daily, the official added.

Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder in a interview with News Nation on Wednesday said the Pentagon is looking at “mitigation measures in terms of what we can do to prevent potential additional unauthorized leaks.”

The Washington Post reported that the person who leaked the documents worked at a military base and shared them to a room of about two dozen people on a popular social media platform.

In addition to email distribution lists, senior Pentagon officials are provided with tablets every day with the latest intelligence. But hard copies are prevalent, too – many Pentagon officials are also given binders of printed intelligence daily, said two senior US officials, as well as another source familiar with the process.

Colonels and generals like paper so much they kill trees if they want to hold it closer with their reading glasses on or take it to in-person meetings, according to a former US official.

Because the leaked documents appear to have been printed out copies that were then photographed, investigators will undoubtedly be examining printer logs from the last several months, officials said.

“All classified systems have multiple levels of risk controls, but a determined insider will find the weak points over time,” said the former US official. Senior ranks are still to blame for paper being a liability.

One thing that will probably be coming out of this is a move to provide information on tablets. “Senior leaders, some of them more technically astute, some like to have the papers so they can scribble on the margins and stuff like that.”

The Joint Staff tracks and analyzes military capabilities and plans in Ukraine, and people across the government want to know about those plans, as well as the Pentagon daily intelligence briefings.

One former official who previously had access to the daily brief while serving at an agency outside DoD during the Trump administration also lamented the fact that this leak almost certainly means there will be restrictions on who will now be allowed to see it, telling CNN that the deck was a helpful resource for top officials across the executive branch.

Identifying the Leaky Pentagon Documents and the Forensic Evidence Left behind by the Edward Snowden Leaked Freedom Act of the United States

The criminal investigation, meanwhile, is being led by the FBI’s Washington field office, including a team of counter-intelligence investigators experienced in hunting leaks.

Those investigators are also working with Pentagon officials on the damage assessment, which would become part of the evidence to be used in any potential prosecution that results.

The FBI, the National Security Agency and other federal agencies changed their computer systems to better track access to sensitive documents. Some systems record what employees do with specific documents, and agencies record which employees print specific documents.

In order to deter foreign cyber criminals from moving large volumes of data from US computers to their countries of origin, the National Security Administration and other agencies improved their capabilities in recent years to detect anomalies in internet traffic. Those systems don’t monitor domestic US internet traffic.

The Defense Department, because of its vast size and some of its operational needs, has been slower to adopt some of the post-Snowden changes, current and former officials say.

Thousands of people who had access to the Defense Department documents left behind a trail of forensic evidence that FBI investigators now face the prospect of sifting through.

If documents posted on social media sites were photographs, a camera phone could give investigators lots of information.

President Joe Biden appeared to suggest Thursday that the US government is close to putting a stop to the leaker of sensitive government secrets.

“There’s a full-blown investigation going on, as you know,” Biden said when asked for comment about the leaks. “The intelligence community and the Justice Department. And they’re getting close. I don’t have an answer for you.”

The FBI has narrowed the number of people who they believe could be responsible for the leaks and have been conducting interviews in recent days, two people briefed on the matter said. Thanks to a forensic trail that was left by the person who posted the documents, investigators have been able to examine a small group of people who had access to it. Investigators are working on building a case for prosecution, people familiar with the matter say.

Jeffrey Castro, spokesman for the Army Criminal Investigation Division, told CNN that the division is assisting the Department of Defense in their investigation of the leak. It is unclear if the alleged leaker works within the US Army.

The New York Times claims that documents it says were posted on a Discord server show fights between the Defense Ministry and theFSB over the death toll in the war in Ukraine.

CNN did not verify the documents. The NYT said it had shown the new 27-pages of documents to multiple US officials, who did not dispute the information but “could not, and would not, independently verify the documents.”

The US has said that the first set of documents released last week were authentic but has said that some of the documents were not legitimate and had been altered.

DOJETEZ and Prigozhin: New Pentagon Observations and Interagency Investigation of the US-Dominated DOJT Leakage

The new documents also indicate that Russian President Vladimir Putin called Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Wagner Group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin to a meeting, believed to have taken place on February 22, to likely resolve a public dispute over ammunition supply, the NYT reports.

He went as far as accusing the leadership of the Russian Defense Ministry of “treason” for failing to get ammunition to Wagner fighters and “also not helping with air transport.”

On February 23, CNN reported Prigozhin said that a shipment of ammunition was now on its way to his fighters, in a message and voice note published on his Telegram channel.

The NYT article contained reports of broad infighting between Russian officials, but the Kremlin said that it does not think the article is reliable.

The leaks on social media in recent weeks have flustered US officials, who fear the revelations about how Washington spies on allies and foes alike could put sensitive sources at risk, and compromise important foreign relationships.

Several of the documents, which US officials say are authentic, revealed the extent of US espionage on key allies.

Others divulge significant weaknesses in Ukrainian weaponry, air defense, and battalion sizes and readiness at a critical point in the war, as Ukrainian forces prepare to launch a counteroffensive against the Russians – and just as the US and Ukraine have begun to develop a more mutually trusting relationship over intelligence-sharing.

The Department ofJustice opened an investigation into the leak last week, and the Pentagon stood up an “Interagency effort” to determine the impact of the leak, according to the Pentagon deputy press secretary.

“Today, the Justice Department arrested Jack Douglas Teixeira in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Investigating a Russian War Document Leaked to Discord: A Closer Look at the Corresponding Report from The Washington Post and the New York Times

A file on a Telegram channel suggested that more soldiers died in the war with Russia than what’s been depicted in the documents. Later investigations determined that unaltered versions had been posted earlier than previously believed and were then spread to other channels by third parties. An investigation from Bellingcat found that the documents may have been posted as far back as January.

According to a report from The Washington Post, the original leaker was known as “OG” within the private Discord server “Thug Shaker Central,” where he also served as the administrator. The suspect reportedly posted typed-up versions of the documents to the server, but he later transitioned to sharing actual photos with the group after growing frustrated by the members’ lack of interaction with them. The FBI made a connection to the man after looking at the background of some photographs, according to The New York Times.

During a press conference on Thursday, Department of Defense press secretary Patrick Ryder declined to comment on how many documents were leaked, while stating that law enforcement is still investigating. Ryder also added that Discord is cooperating with the Department of Justice’s investigation, which the company publicly announced on Wednesday. The Verge requested comment from Discord, but they did not respond immediately.

We are doing everything we can to prevent unauthorized disclosures in the future, because this is a criminal act, and we have safeguards in place, we have processes, we have procedures, and we will continue to do due diligence as part of this review.