The American newspaper "Washington Post" reported information regarding the "leak of U.S. classified documents." The leak, known as the Discord leak due to the platform used for sharing the documents, has become one of Washington's biggest diplomatic and security nightmares this year, with dozens of highly classified documents surfacing online that reveal sensitive information intended for high-ranking military and intelligence leaders. The report stated that "the leaker is an American young man who shared the documents with a group of acquaintances consisting of twenty individuals, mostly men and young people, united by a love for guns and military equipment, and shared interests in conspiracy theories."
**How the Documents Were Obtained**
According to the report, "the documents were published last year by a man named OG, who told his group mates that he obtained them while working at an unspecified military base." One group member told the "Washington Post," "The man, treated as the group leader and known among them as knowledgeable about military secrets, shared hundreds of messages over the months, including snippets of classified intelligence." The newspaper noted that "OG told his colleagues he copied many of those documents by hand, as they are kept in places where it is forbidden to bring phones or electronic devices." The spokesperson, who was not named by the "Washington Post," also mentioned that "OG informed them about the existence of highly classified documents concerning the locations and movements of senior political leaders, tactical updates about military forces, geopolitical analyses, and assessments of foreign governments' efforts to influence election outcomes." However, these posts, according to the "Washington Post," were just "a small sip from a torrent of secrets" that OG planned to publish. It appears, according to the newspaper's source, that OG estimated that publishing the handwritten secrets would take too much time, which is why he began last week to share hundreds of images of the documents he had been discussing, leading to significant diplomatic and security issues for the United States.
**Content of the Documents**
The highly classified documents seem to have originated, at least partially, from the Pentagon, and many appear to have been prepared for senior military officials. The documents contain assessments of the progress of the war in Ukraine, including precise tactical information from the battlefield, revealing deep concerns about the course of the war and Kyiv's capacity to launch a successful assault against Russian forces, as well as the extent of U.S. infiltration of the Russian military. The files contain intelligence summaries about high-level talks among world leaders, as well as information about advanced satellite technology used by the U.S. for espionage, including intelligence on both allies and adversaries such as Iran, North Korea, the UK, Canada, South Korea, Israel, and Egypt. Some of them included detailed maps of battlefield conditions in Ukraine and highly classified satellite images showing the impact of Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian electrical facilities, along with a recently captured image of the Chinese spy balloon that flew across the country in February, possibly taken from a close distance by an aircraft.
**Who is the Leaker?**
Two members of the group told the "Washington Post" that they know OG's real name and the state in which he lives and works, but they refused to share this information. The two members said they were drawn to "OG's bravery, his weapon skills, and his ability to know secret things and his conclusions and forecasts about future events." They also explained that "OG had a poor view of the government and spoke of the U.S., especially law enforcement and the intelligence community, as an evil force that sought to suppress its citizens and keep them in the dark." He spoke about "government overreach."
**How the Photos Were Leaked**
The newspaper noted that "OG uploaded the documents to the group last winter, but on February 28, another teenager from the group began sharing the photos in another group. On March 4, 10 documents appeared on a Discord server with members interested in a popular video game." Subsequently, the highly classified documents became available to thousands of Discord users, but the U.S. government did not become aware of the leak until a month later. The newspaper stated, "Shortly before the New York Times published its first report on the leak, OG wrote to his group, nervously saying that 'something happened' and told them that it was now in God's hands." A source for the newspaper reported that "OG had been in contact in the past few days and seemed extremely confused and lost about what to do." He added, "He is fully aware of what is happening and what the consequences might be, but he is uncertain about how to resolve this situation and appears to be in a state of shock about it."
