Top officials are investigating the source of the “worrying” leak which contained highly classified material about the Ukrainian war effort.
Papers have been leaked from the Pentagon which have been called “a nightmare for the Five Eyes” by senior intelligence officials.
The “Five Eyes” being the combined efforts of intelligence agencies from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. The leaks were allegedly procured sometime around March 1st according to several different sources. They were first sourced on 4chan which led to some to doubt the veracity of the documents, however after extensive research by open-source intelligence groups (OSINT) certain elements of the leaks were verified, however there is still debate around some other documents.
Certain documents were marked NOFORN, meaning No Foreign Nationals and are used on highly classified information. While NOFORN is not an official classification, the leak is still highly unusual, especially if it came from within the US intelligence system. The leaks were purportedly released on a discord server for Minecraft fans too, which led to the Head of Research at Bellingcat to opine that “if some guy on a minecraft server has gotten access to these documents then there is a heavy chance Russian intelligence officials have as well. The Pentagon is currently investigating how the leaks appeared online as a priority, the leaks have been argued to present a “significant breach in the United States National Security”.
The leaks have also, characteristically, begun to churn the mill of both right and left wing propaganda. “Pro-Kremlin” conspiracy theorists have allegedly used the “evidence” in the leaks to prove that Ukraine is lying about their losses and in reality, they are heavily depleted and unable to withstand the Russian onslaught much longer. Alongside the rumour mills swirling, there are minor battles taking place over where the legality of censorship finds itself at the moment. The leaked documents have appeared extensively on Twitter and Elon Musk has argued that the “internet is forever”, basically stating that if the leaks are already published it will be immensely difficult to remove them.
On the left, there are several reports that the entire leak is a fake and produced by the Russians to demoralise the Ukrainian population, who by extension would then push for peace talks. While there is evidence that small portions have been edited, they seem to have been edits which have reduced the number of Russian casualties and inflated their territorial gains.
US officials continue to work closely with the Ukrainian government on ensuring their continued independence. Zelenskyy remains focused on the Spring Offensive aimed at taking back the final 18% of Ukraine under Russian occupation. The war rages on and these kinds of leaks whether real or not will always play a key role in undermining the war effort of both sides.
In conclusion, either way, the nature of the propaganda is up for debate and will continue to be investigated extensively to identify the source and intention of the leaks. For further information, take a look at this extensive PDF, produced by the United States Air Force Press, which details the endless list of psychological operations and covert propaganda efforts of a nation at war.
Edited By: Morgan Reitzel
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