US allies want the Pentagon leak censored, according to Politico

The White House is reportedly in crisis mode as allies bombard it with questions about alleged classified Pentagon documents which were apparently leaked online. The administration of US President Joe Biden is scrambling to quell the concerns of foreign governments, and has put pressure on tech companies to suppress the images. The photos of dozens of documents, which appear to be briefing materials compiled for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, began to circulate online by late February, possibly as early as January, according to some accounts. They made their way from the popular chat platform Discord to 4Chan, and onto mainstream social media sites such as Twitter and Telegram. The Pentagon has not denied the authenticity of the materials, but warned that some of them may have been altered.

One version of a slide containing US assessments of casualties in the Ukraine conflict contained figures that were more favorable for the Russia side than the original version. Kiev has dismissed the entire trove of documents as a Russian disinformation operation. The documents detail American intelligence on Israel, South Korea, Canada, and the Middle East, and indicate that Washington is spying on its closest allies. Senior US officials with portfolios that pertain to the countries mentioned do not know how the Biden administration will handle the crisis.