US defense secretary says leaked classified documents are being taken very seriously (2024)

The leak of classified Pentagon documents is being taken very seriously, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday.

Austin added that the Defense Department will “turn over every rock until we find the source” of the leaked intelligence documents.

Austin said the documents they are aware of are dating February 28and March 1, and that they do not know if there are “other documents” that had been posted.

“Again,” he said, “we will continue to investigate in and try to determine the full scope of the activity.”

Austin said that he was first briefed on the “unauthorized disclosure” of documents on April 6 and has been convening senior leaders daily since then.

More background: Highly classified Pentagon documents leaked online in recent weeks have provided a rare window into how the US spies on allies and foes alike, deeply rattling US officials, who fear the revelations could jeopardize sensitive sources and compromise important foreign relationships.

Many of the documents, which US officials say are authentic, had markings indicating that they had been produced by the Joint Staff's intelligence arm, known as J2, and appear to be briefing documents.

CNN’s Celine Alkhaldi and Mostafa Salem contributed to this report.

The White House says it has no indication Egypt is providing Russia with deadly arms for its war in Ukraine.

A leaked US intelligence document obtained by the Washington Post indicated Egypt’s military was planning to produce 40,000 rockets for Russia. It said that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi instructed officials to keep production and shipment secret "to avoid problems with the West."

Kirby said Egypt remained “a significant security partner” and would remain so.

“The United States military has a longstanding defense relationship with Egypt that goes back many, many years,” he said, speaking to reporters on board Air Force One.

The February-dated “top secret document” purported conversations between Sisi and senior Egyptian military officials referencing plans to supply Russia with artillery and gunpowder, and to keep the plans a secret, the Washington Post said.

CNN has not seen the document cited by the Washington Post and is not able to confirm its authenticity.

An Egyptian official, unnamed by state-affiliated media, called the Washington Post report “informational absurdity” and said that Egypt follows a “balanced policy” with all international parties, Al Qahera News, a state-affiliated media outlet said. The statement was carried by several Egyptian state-affiliated news outlets.

Kirby refused to confirm the validity of the document and declined to detail any diplomatic conversations between Washington and Cairo.

The family of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained in Russia, released a statement on Tuesday calling for his release.

“We are encouraged that the State Department has officially designated Evan as wrongfully detained. We appreciate President Biden’s call to us today, assuring us that the U.S. government is doing everything in its power to bring him home as quickly as possible," the statement said.

The statement continued:

The United Arab Emirates rejected reports suggesting that Russian intelligence was toutingdeepened ties with the Emirati government and planned to work against the United States and the United Kingdom, as reported by the Associated Press — citing an apparent intelligence document from the US.

The purported intelligence document which was posted online and viewed by the AP cited research reportedly from March 9 with the title “Russia/UAE: Intelligence Relationship Deepening,” that said US spies caught Russian intelligence officers boasting that they had convinced the UAE to “work together against US and UK intelligence agencies.”

CNN has not seen the document cited by AP, and both have been unable to confirm its authenticity.

“UAE officials have not seen any of the referenced materials, and any purported claims referenced in the Associated Press regarding the FSB enquiries are categorically false,” an official from the UAE told CNN in a statement on Tuesday.

The source spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing longstanding norms around the government's communications with the media.

More background: Highly classified Pentagon documentsleaked online in recent weekshave provided a rare window into how the US spies on allies and foes alike, deeply rattling US officials, who fear the revelations could jeopardize sensitive sources and compromise important foreign relationships.

Many of the documents, which US officials say are authentic, had markings indicating that they had been produced by the Joint Staff's intelligence arm, known as J2, and appear to be briefing documents.

US President Joe Biden spoke with the parents of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal correspondent detained in Russia, Tuesday.

It's their first time speaking sinceGershkovich was arrested in Russia last month.

Biden told reporters, before boarding Air Force One, that he planned to speak withGershkovich's parents. He connected with them aboard the plane as he flew to Northern Ireland, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

"The president made it clear that his national security team has been and will remain focused on securing Evan’s release as well as that of Paul Whelan," she said, referring to a second American who has been detained in Russia for several years.

She said the charges of espionage againstGershkovich were baseless and said "he should be released immediately."

The apparent leak of US classified information "has demonstrated a serious level of inaccuracy," the UK's Ministry of Defence said Tuesday.

"Readers should be cautious about taking at face value allegations that have the potential to spread disinformation," the ministry said in a brief statement posted on its official Twitter feed.

Ukraine's response: Mykhailo Podolyak, the adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said on his Telegram channel Friday that he believes the documents that have been disseminated are inauthentic, have “nothing to do with Ukraine’s real plans” and are based on “a large amount of fictitious information” spread by Russia.

But while Ukrainian officials brushed off the leak, Ukraine has already altered some of its military plans because of it, a source close to Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskytold CNN.

What's in the documents: CNN has reviewed 53 leaked documents, all of which appear to have been produced between mid-February and early March.

They contain a wide range of highly classified information – providing a rare window into how the US spies on allies and adversaries alike.

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

“We expect the US to share a damage assessment with us in the coming days, but we cannot wait for their assessment. Right now, we are doing our own,” said an official from a country that is part of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing arrangement with the US, which includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Read more about the documents here.

CNN's Zachary Cohen, Natasha Bertrand and Kylie Atwood contributed to this post.

The US government investigations into aleak of highly classified Pentagon documents— which includes intelligence onthe war in Ukraine — are starting to take shape, with the Pentagon examining how the leak impacts US national security and the Justice Department launching a criminal investigation into who may have been behind the breach.

The interagency probe is being led by the Pentagon’s Office of Intelligence and Security, according to three US officials, and could take months to complete. It will chiefly examine whether any sources and methods have been compromised since the documents, many of which are marked "top secret," wereposted on a social media platformearlier this year.

Milancy Harris, the deputy under secretary of defense for intelligence and security, will be in charge of the effort on the Pentagon side, officials said. The investigation will also try to determine the scope of the leak, since officials do not yet know whether it has been contained or whether there are more classified documents still circulating online.

The Pentagon effort is not focused on the source of the leak, one senior Pentagon official said. But the Defense Department will be examining how it distributes highly classified information and whether it needs to change who receives it on a daily basis.

The leaked materials appear to be photos of documents that were crumpled up and wrinkled, as though they had been folded and stuffed in a pocket.

While many officials tend to take classified information home, one senior US official said, the fact that the paper was folded up “tells me this person did not have that authority.”

Read more about the investigations here.

Wagner founder and financier Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed on Tuesday that Russian forces now control much of the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

“We are fully concentrated on Bakhmut, continuing to carry out combat missions. In Bakhmut, most of it — that is, more than 80% — is under our control, including the entire administrative center, plants, factories, the city administration,” Prigozhinsaid. “What is left is part of the multi-story residential areas, where fortification districts were made. There are tunnels under these high-rise buildings.”

Ukrainian officials have denied Prigozhin’s claim.

"Prigozhin needs to show at least some victory in the city, which they have been trying to capture for nine months in a row, so he makes such statements," Cherevatyi added.

The Wagner founder has been known to make incorrect claims about his forces’ advance on the ground in Ukraine. Last week, he posted a grainy video raising a flag at dawn, saying Bakhmut had "been taken," despite ongoing fighting in and around the city. His claim was seen as a "pretty desperate" attempt, Western officials said.

What Western officials are saying: The officials conceded Russia had been able to make some progress in Bakhmut, but added it could be "measured in meters."

"The Russians at the moment, despite trying for six months, with huge numbers of personnel and huge numbers of losses, have been unable to take the town, and at the moment have made very, very slow progress,” the officials said at a briefing last Wednesday.

In the video this Tuesday, Prigozhin said Wagner fighters had relinquished control of some areas around Bakhmut to the Russian military.

“We handed over the flanks to the Ministry of Defence. Units of the Ministry of Defence, including the airborne troops, have today taken over both the right and left flanks,” he said. “That is why Zaliznyanskoye, Nikolaevka, and other settlements, which were stormed by units of the Wagner PMC in previous months, are in the area of responsibility of the airborne troops and other units of the Ministry of Defence.”

CNN’s Max Foster contributed to this post.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has reassured Ukraine of the United States’ support following a leak of classified Pentagon documents, according to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

During a call on Tuesday, Blinken “reaffirmed the ironclad U.S. support and vehemently rejected any attempts to cast doubt on Ukraine’s capacity to win on the battlefield,” Kuleba wrote Tuesday on Twitter, adding that the US "remains Ukraine's trustworthy partner."

The comments come after a number of highly classified Pentagon documents were released online in recent weeks. Some divulgekey weaknesses in Ukrainian weaponry, air defense, and battalion sizes and readiness at acritical point in the war, as Ukrainian forces gear up to launch a counteroffensive against the Russians – and just as the US and Ukraine have begun to develop a more mutually trusting relationship over intelligence-sharing.

CNN's Natasha Bertrand and Kylie Atwood contributed reporting to this post.