The Washington Examiner reports that the recently-leaked Pentagon documents reveal the extent to which the United States has penetrated Russian intelligence.
The documents were leaked on Twitter, Telegram, and other online sites on Friday.
The documents appear to be official U.S. classified documents, and the documents contain intelligence that the U.S. government has gathered on China, Ukraine, and others.
But, here, the focus is going to be on the leaks related to Russia - particularly to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The leaked documents, according to the Examiner, show that the U.S. has penetrated Russian intelligence to such an extent that the U.S. has been able to warn Ukraine about attacks that Russia was planning to launch before Russia launched them.
The Examiner reports:
The documents detail Russia’s weaknesses as it struggles to overcome Ukrainian forces in its 14-month invasion, indicating several compromises in the military’s communications. The documents show several instances in which U.S. intelligence agencies have been tipped off about Russian strikes, allowing the U.S. to warn Ukraine ahead of time.
In the same vein, U.S. intelligence has also gathered information about Ukraine, including about Ukraine's military weaknesses.
But, the Examiner reports that "the reports indicate that U.S. officials have a far deeper understanding of the Russian military than that of Ukraine."
Something also worth noting is that the reports indicate that the leaked documents do not appear to contain any information that would undermine Ukraine in its battle with Russia. The documents also do not contain information about how the United States went about obtaining this intelligence.
In recent weeks, documents like the ones detailed above, have been leaked online, leading to concerns among American officials.
According to military analysts, the leaked documents do appear to be genuine. But, analysts have indicated that, in some places, the leaked documents also appear to have been altered.
At the moment, the source of the leak remains unclear.
Some U.S. officials - and some Ukrainian officials - have suggested that, perhaps, Russia or a Russia-backed group leaked the documents. The officials have suggested that the leaks have all the hallmarks of a Russian disinformation campaign. But, this theory has not been confirmed.
An ongoing investigation into the leak is being led by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). The DOD told the Examiner:
The Department of Defense is actively reviewing the matter, and has made a formal referral to the Department of Justice for investigation.
