On Thursday, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder held a press briefing discussing top secret U.S. intelligence leaked online several weeks ago.
Dozens of documents appeared online several weeks ago that purported to show U.S. intelligence on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the governments of several close U.S. allies. During Thursday’s briefing, Ryder said the leak was a “deliberate criminal act.”
“In the days after the leaks came to light, what steps has [the Department of Defense] taken to reduce the number of people who have access to not only these classified briefings, but the classified material in general?” a reporter asked.
“So we continue to review a variety of factors, as it relates to safeguarding classified materials. This includes examining and updating distribution lists, assessing how and where intelligence products are shared and a variety of other steps,” Ryder said. “I would say, though, that it is — it is important to understand that we do have stringent guidelines in place for safeguarding classified and sensitive information. This was a deliberate criminal act, a violation of those guidelines. And so again, I think that’s important to understand.”
“Now, we will continue to do everything we can to ensure that people who have a need to know when it comes to this kind information have access to that. We’re always going to learn from every situation. But again, this is something that we’ll continue to look at,” he added.
“But you are taking steps to tighten that, I guess, population who might have access to this level of information?” the reporter asked.
“That’s accurate,” Ryder replied. “Again, we continue to review those distribution lists, update them, make sure there’s a need to know. But again, let me just emphasize my point that this was a — you know, we have rules in place. Each of us signs a nondisclosure agreement, anybody that has a security clearance. And so all indications are, again, this was a criminal act, a willful violation of those, and again, another reason why we’re continuing to investigate and support DOJ’s investigation.”
