Pentagon leak could get Ukrainians killed, says US congressman on intelligence committee

The recent leak of classified US military documents, if authentic, could have deadly consequences for the Ukrainians in the war with Russia, said the top Democrat on the US House intelligence committee. 

“It won’t be hard for the Russians to cut off [intelligence] collection avenues that might have been saving lives every day,” Rep. Jim Himes said on Monday.  

Himes emphasized that he had not been briefed on the documents and could not independently corroborate their authenticity. But US officials have told CNN that the documents appear real.

The fallout: US allies are doing damage assessments, scrambling to determine whether any of their own sources and methods have been compromised by the leak.

Himes said he worried that the closest of US allies — the so-called “Five Eyes” intelligence partnership that includes Australia Canada, New Zealand and the UK — “might think twice about sharing their most sensitive intelligence” because of the leak.

The leak has also led the Pentagon to take steps to tighten the flow of such highly sensitive documents, US officials have said.

Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who is being held in Russia, has been designated as wrongfully detained by the US State Department.  

The designation underscores the United States government’s statements that the espionage charges against the reporter are baseless, and it will empower the US government to explore every avenue to try to secure his release. 

Gershkovich’s case will now be handled at the State Department through the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.  

Both of the Americans who have been recently brought home from Russia — Trevor Reed and Brittney Griner — had been designated as wrongfully detained, and were freed in prisoner swaps. 

Paul Whelan, who remains imprisoned in Russia, also has been declared wrongfully detained. 

In his statement, Patel said the “U.S. government will provide all appropriate support to Mr. Gershkovich and his family.”

US State Department Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman has been tapped to lead the diplomatic response to the leak of highly classified Pentagon documents, according to a US official familiar with the matter.

US government officials “are engaging with allies and partners at high levels over this including to reassure them of our commitment to safeguarding intelligence and the fidelity of securing our partnerships” following the mass leak of highly classified documents, State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Monday.

Patel would not go into details about which countries they had engaged, saying “that work is ongoing.”

Asked by CNN if the State Department is taking the lead on those conversation, Patel said that “as the main diplomatic branch and agency of this administration, of course the Department of State would have a role in communicating with our allies and partners, but these conversations are happening across the administration.”

“US officials are engaging with allies and partners at the highest level over this,” he said. 

Patel would not say if any steps had been taken to restrict access to classified information at the State Department as a result of the leak, saying he did not want to discuss policy decisions. 

CNN has reported that some of the leaked documents included intelligence related to the war in Ukraine.

International response: Patel would not speak on specific comments from South Korean and Israeli officials reacting to leaked documents. South Korea’s presidential office said it will hold “necessary discussions with the US” regarding the document leak, which comes as the relationship between Seoul and Washington is already strained due to South Korean anger over the Inflation Reduction Act harming South Korea’s electronic vehicle industry and concerns related to the US CHIPS Act.

“There is a lot of frustration towards the Yoon administration for being too committed to the US alliance so every aspect of the US-South Korea relationship is under the microscope,” said a former US Ambassador to South Korea.  

The South Korean president is scheduled to visit the White House later this month, making the timing around this incident particularly unfortunate the former diplomat said.  

“Does Yoon have to raise this during the State Visit? We don’t know yet,” the diplomat said

More broadly, one diplomat from a NATO country told CNN that they do not believe Moscow was overly surprised by the most of the intel that was revealed in the leaked documents, noting Russia has robust intelligence gathering operations. 

They also said that they were not frustrated that there was US intelligence that was not widely shared with allies. This diplomat said most nations do not share everything with their allies nor is there an expectation that they do so. 

“That’s not the way it works,” the diplomat said.

The Pentagon is still working to determine the scale of a leak of classified information that has occurred in recent weeks, Chris Meagher, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, said Monday. 

CNN has reported that some of the leaked documents included intelligence related to the war in Ukraine.

Meagher said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was first briefed on the leak on April 6 and began “convening senior leaders on a daily basis” the next day. 

Over the weekend, US officials engaged with allies and partners — some of whom were also implicated in the document leak, Meagher said.

The Pentagon team is also working to determine if the leak of classified material includes the Defense Department’s legislative affairs, public affairs, policy, general counsel, intelligence and security, and joint staff offices, Meagher said. 

Meagher said the team is a “coordinated effort amongst several different components of DOD” who were all working to “get our arms around everything that has to do with” the leak.

Meagher declined to say who specifically was in charge of that team and overseeing those efforts.