Washington, DC – There is plenty of uncertainty about the supposed secret US government intelligence assessments circulating online: Are they authentic? Are they accurate? Who leaked them? And why?
Despite growing questions, experts seemed to agree on one thing: The leaks are damaging to Washington’s intelligence-gathering and foreign policy.
The documents include details of the Western military support to Ukraine, information about Russia’s war effort and intelligence collected from allied states.
US officials have not denied the validity of the documents, acknowledging that they “present a very serious risk to national security” and appear to be real, though in some cases altered. But they warned that the leaks “have the potential to spread disinformation”.
Analysts have said the leaks risk exposing intelligence sources and could cause a diplomatic headache for Washington.
Mick Mulroy, a former senior Pentagon official who also served in the CIA, called the leak “damaging”.
“I think the United States needs to do a better job of securing classified information,” Mulroy said.
The “biggest concern”, he added, is the possible compromising of methods of intelligence-gathering, including human sources. Mulroy stressed the importance of the “ability to protect our assets, protect our way of doing business, so we know information that goes into making policy”.
While the intelligence assessments — which were meant for senior officials at the Pentagon — did not include the names of possible human sources, experts said the revelations could help US adversaries, particularly Russia, identify American assets in their midst.
Glenn Carle, a former senior US intelligence official, described the leak as a failure “of major magnitude” that “some people may well die from”.
“Any counter-intelligence service will be hastily and thoroughly now working out who has access to that information in their country and reducing the number of possible individuals,” Carle told Al Jazeera’s Inside Story.
“And it’s quite possible that they could identify the sources — and depending on the country, that will damage or destroy their career or get them killed.”
Carle said the leaks were an “unfolding disaster” because intelligence agents have the “ultimate responsibility” to protect their sources, which could be harmed by the slightest breach.
‘Embarrassing’
The leaked secret documents started making headlines…