2022–2023 Pentagon document leaks
[5] 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.
Speaking to President Joe Biden, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley stated Russia would attempt a multidirectional shock and awe attack.
Users of the server formed a bond with OG as he posted the documents, believing him to be a trusted source, with some knowing his full name and state.
[11] An investigation by The New York Times, following a digital evidence trail,[12] found that OG is likely Jack Teixeira (born 2001), an airman in the 102nd Intelligence Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.
[14] Teixeira was promoted to airman first class in July 2022, and became a cyber transport systems journeyman stationed at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod.
[23] On April 21, The New York Times reported that a user whose profile matched Teixeira had shared the documents to another Discord server beginning on February 25, 2022, days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.
[26][27][28] 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.
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.
[32] 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.
Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's director of military intelligence, described the Ukrainian position as "catastrophic", and offered to deploy elite units, including the Kraken Regiment, 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.
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 one document, in late February, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to strike within the Rostov Oblast.
[46] The United States special forces were detailed to the U.S. embassy in Kyiv to provide security for VIPs and to assist with oversight of U.S. equipment and supplies being sent to Ukraine.
[47][48] 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.
[49] 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".
Fabrika uses bots to manipulate search results and recommendations algorithms, as well as actively targeting individuals with propaganda directly with email and phone contact information collected from databases.
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.
[63] One set of documents states 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.
[66] 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.
[67] The documents state that the Wagner Group is seeking to expand its operations into Haiti, offering to combat violent gangs on behalf of the Haitian government.
The leak imperils future intelligence gathering efforts as targets take countermeasures and patch up exposed vulnerabilities,[31][30] and puts human sources at risk.
"[87] On the night of Teixeira's arrest, Fox News host Tucker Carlson falsely told viewers that the disclosure of fourteen American special forces members in Ukraine showed that the U.S. is "a direct combatant in a war against Russia.
The special forces were not engaged in combat but rather detailed to the U.S. embassy in Kyiv to provide security for VIPs and to assist with oversight of U.S. equipment and supplies being sent to Ukraine.
[90] 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.
"[29] 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.
"[91] 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.
[91][68] Kyle Walter of British firm Logically, which researches disinformation, says most voices on Russian-speaking Telegram were calling the leak a Western false flag.
[4] 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.
