The United States Pentagon has ruled this Thursday on the leak of classified documents from the Department’s Intelligence service, arguing that they are “a deliberate criminal act”, reports Europa Press. “It is important to understand that We have strict guidelines to safeguard confidential and classified information. This has been a deliberate criminal act, a violation of those guidelines,” Defense Department spokesman General Pat Ryder told a news conference.
“I think it’s important to understand that We will continue to do everything we can to ensure that people who have a need to know when it comes to this type of information have access to it.”has added.
Ryder, who has remarked that measures have been taken to limit access to the documents of the Defense Department, He added that his office continues to “work around the clock with the intelligence and interagency community to better understand the scope, scale and impact of these leaks.”
“We continue to review a variety of factors, as it relates to the protection of classified materials. This includes reviewing and updating mailing lists, evaluating how and where intelligence products are shared, as well as other steps,” he explained.
Likewise, he recalled that he is limited in what he can comment on the ongoing investigation at the Department of Justice and has stressed that “the fact that classified information” is published elsewhere “does not mean that it has been declassified by an authority”, so it will not confirm the content of the documents.
“For that reason, we will continue to encourage those of you reporting this story to take these latter factors into account, and to consider the potential consequences of posting potentially sensitive documents or information online or elsewhere,” Ryder said.
The Defense spokesman has also stressed that the Biden Administration “is going to take advantage” of this “opportunity” to “review and refine” the “strict protocols” that exist in the institutions for the “protection and safeguarding” of classified information from the US Government .
Internal review at the Department of Defense
United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered this Thursday an internal review at his agency after which it could be one of the biggest leaks of intelligence documents in a decade. The alleged person responsible for the leak of documents, which mostly contained information about the ukrainian war, is a 21-year-old who was arrested today in Massachusetts.
In reaction to the arrest, Austin applauded the FBI’s quick arrest of suspect and said he was willing to give his full support and cooperation with the investigation.
In turn, the person in charge of the Defense portfolio announced that he had ordered the Deputy Secretary for Intelligence and Security to initiate a review of the intelligence “access, responsibility, and control” procedures in the Department to “prevent this type of incident from happening again.” “.
“I will not hesitate to take whatever additional steps are necessary to safeguard our nation’s secrets,” Lloyd said in a statement. The FBI arrested this Thursday in the town of North Dighton (Massachusetts) a Jack Teixeiraalleged author of the leaks.
The US Attorney General, Merrick Garland, explained today that FBI agents arrested Teixeira this afternoon “without incident” and that he is scheduled to appear soon before a federal court judge in Massachusetts, where the charges, which have not yet been made public, will be read against him and You will be asked to plead guilty or not guilty.
The US authorities have not yet revealed details of how the leaks occurred, but The Washington Post spoke with an acquaintance of Teixeira and said that the defendant published the documents because he wanted to impress other young people with whom he played on the Discord platform. .
According to the Post, Teixeira accessed the documents at the base of the National Guard where he worked, he took them home and posted them on Discord, popular with gamers.
Subsequently, these documents were disseminated through other social networks, such as Telegram, and ended up in recent days on the front pages of major newspapers around the world.
Most of the leaked documents are related to the war in Ukraine and give details about US and NATO plans to reinforce the Ukrainian offensive. In addition, the information indicates that Washington could have been spying on some of its closest allies, such as Ukraine itself, South Korea, and Israel.
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