Biden says US 'getting close' to identifying source of intelligence leaks

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - President Joe Biden said Thursday that his administration is narrowing down the list of individuals that may have been responsible for the leak of a trove of apparently classified US intelligence documents.

Asked about the matter on his first official visit to Ireland as president, Biden told reporters "there’s a full-blown investigation going on, as you know, with the intelligence community and the Justice Department."

"They’re getting close," he said, downplaying the importance of the unauthorized disclosures, which he said contain nothing "of great consequence right now."

The comments come after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pledged to "turn over every rock" until the leaker is identified. The scope of the leak remains unclear with additional documents continuing to be reported on, some of which have included embarrassing or sensitive information that has roiled close US allies and partners.

The Justice Department and Pentagon have opened investigations into how the cache was released without authorization and who might have been responsible.

Many are crudely taken photos of documents with markings bearing varying levels of classification and appear to be folded, according to images circulating on social media. Some carry seals of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Many of the documents date back to March and relate to the war in Ukraine, including force and casualty levels for Kyiv and Moscow's militaries. Others paint a dire picture of Ukraine's ammunition levels ahead of an expected counter-offensive to further roll back Russia's occupation.

The Pentagon has maintained the documents pose "a very serious risk" to US national security and "have the potential to spread disinformation."

An investigation from the Bellingcat website found that at least some of the documents were "crudely edited" before they were posted to Russian Telegram channels where they were first found by mainstream media outlets.

They were originally distributed on Discord, a messaging service popular with videogame players, but the original channels have since been deleted.