The leak of secret Pentagon documents on the Internet puts the United States and Israel at odds again

The headquarters of the Pentagon in Arlington (Virginia), this Thursday. TOM BRENNER (REUTERS)

While the Pentagon works to apply the damage containment strategy, the US Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the leaking of military and intelligence documents, largely related to the war in Ukraine, on the Internet.

The derivatives of the leak multiply, pitting Ukraine even more against Russia, and vice versa, in addition to exposing vulnerabilities and debates within countries allied to the US. One of the closest, Israel, has also been alluded to for the revelation of the alleged role of the Mossad, the foreign espionage service, as the motor of the protests against the judicial reform of the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

Relations between the US and Israel have been going through one of their most tense moments for weeks.

Since the leak was known, last Friday, the revelations have followed one another.

The umpteenth has to do with the possible attack by a group of Russian hackers on energy infrastructure in Canada, on which the supply to the US partially depends. The hackers' action, under the supposed direction of the Federal

Service of Russia (FSB, in its Russian acronym; heir to the KGB), may have compromised the IP address of a Canadian gas pipeline network in February and caused damage to its infrastructure, according to leaked Pentagon documents.

The leaks contain projections about the course of the war in Ukraine and the real capacity of the two opposing Armies, not very rosy in both cases;

combat plans before a supposed spring offensive, but also secret intelligence reports that affect US allies, and have been disclosed since last month on Twitter, Telegram (a messaging service equivalent to WhatsApp popular in Russia), Discord , 4Chan and other social networks.

It is one of the most serious since the publication by WikiLeaks of more than 700,000 diplomatic cables in 2013.

The Pentagon said Friday that it was "actively reviewing the matter" and had referred the case to the Justice Department, so the investigation is in its early stages.

US officials told

that some documents had been doctored, pointing to likely Russian authorship, but many others were consistent with CIA

reports shared at the highest level by the White House, Pentagon and the Department of State.

Defense analysts say such a leak favors Moscow's story and propaganda by demonstrating the extent to which US intelligence has managed to penetrate the Russian military apparatus, according to local media.

Other documents, validated in principle by federal investigators, contain information about the internal debate in US-allied governments such as South Korea, under pressure from the US to provide artillery shells to Ukraine, according to The New York newspaper

.

One of the main allies of the US, Israel, has also been affected by the rebellions, at a time of marked internal and external instability.

The Mossad (foreign espionage) has categorically denied the information contained in one of the documents, labeled

and updated on March 1, which accuses the intelligence service of encouraging protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his controversial judicial reform, now on hold.

The mobilization, which for three months has brought tens of thousands of Israelis to the streets, caused friction within the Government and criticism from institutions such as the country's presidency and the Army.

Good relationship with Putin

Prime Minister Netanyahu's office this Sunday was forced to come out in the face of information, flatly denying any participation of Mossad agents in the mobilizations against his government's plans.

However, the denial adds fuel to the fire of the differences between the two allies, especially after President Joe Biden's criticism of the judicial reform encouraged by Netanyahu.

Another of the published documents points to Washington's pressure on the Israeli government to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine, contrary to the current policy of the Jewish State and at the risk of blowing up Netanyahu's balance with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The leak of the Pentagon papers, still in its infancy judging by the trickle of revelations, is already a thunderclap.

The details of the military and espionage plans are detailed, such as Ukraine's air defenses or the weak flanks of the Ukrainian and Russian armies, so experts believe they were leaked by an American and not an ally.

Other issues reflected in the documents also refer to China, the Middle East and Africa.

"The attention [of the investigators] points to the fact that it is a US leak, since many of the documents were only in the hands of the US," Michael Mulroy, a former senior Pentagon official, told Reuters.

For the course of the Ukrainian war, most disturbing are the military intelligence reports, with estimates of battlefield casualties appearing to have been doctored to minimize Russian losses.

One of those documents is not classified although it includes top secret information.

Some files are marked as NOFORN, that is, they cannot be delivered to foreigners.

Another file, dated February 23 and marked secret, describes how Ukraine's S-300 air defense systems would be depleted by May 2 at the current rate of use.

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