NEW YORK, April 10. /TASS/. The classified Pentagon and US intelligence documents that recently appeared on the Internet first surfaced online in January, weeks before setting off alarms in the international community, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
According to the newspaper, the documents were posted "to a small group on a messaging channel that trafficked in memes, jokes and racist talk." In January, an anonymous member of the chat posted files containing info on the Ukrainian conflict and intercepted messages on US allies, including Israel and South Korea, most of which were marked as classified. Hundreds of documents remained available to a narrow group of users of the Discord platform until early last month, when one of them posted some files to platforms with a wider audience.
As soon as the leaked files attracted wider attention, the users rushed to delete their accounts and wipe the servers, fearing prosecution by US authorities or scrutiny from foreign intelligence agencies, the WSJ added.
US media reported earlier that the departments of Defense and Justice were investigating a leak of secret documents revealing American and NATO plans to build up Ukrainian forces before a counteroffensive. Numerous tranches of documents disclosing sensitive information about weapons delivery timeframes and troop strengths were posted on Twitter and Telegram.
On Friday, the New York Times reported that another batch of classified US documents on Ukraine had been leaked on the Internet. The materials include sensitive briefing slides on the Middle East and China, the newspaper said.
Those documents that appeared on the Internet may have been doctored, Reuters said. According to the news agency, the leak is seen as one of the biggest breaches of secret data since more than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables were released through WikiLeaks in 2013.