US allies 'trust' undermined after leak of Pentagon docs: Ex-officials

US former intelligence officials have raised concerns that the leaking of Pentagon's confidential papers makes US allies lose "trust" in the United States.

“It’s hard to trust us with your secrets if we can’t protect them,” Bill Lynn, a former US deputy secretary of defense, who now serves as CEO of arms company Leonardo DRS, told CNBC on Friday.

On Thursday, US airman Jack Teixeira was arrested for leaking highly sensitive Pentagon documents online. Teixeira was a low-ranking member of the 102nd Intelligence Wing based in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. 

US airman arrested over Pentagon document leak

FBI agents on Thursday arrested a young national guardsman suspected of being behind a major leak of sensitive US government secrets -- including about the Ukraine war.

Veteran intelligence operative, Marty Martin, who served with the CIA, the NSA, and the US Army, claimed that the notion that the documents were presumably accessed, printed, and posted on a gaming chat server by a junior airman was particularly damaging to Washington's reputation.  

Martin told the broadcaster that the fact that a kid had access to highly sensitive Pentagon documents makes the US military look "sloppy and incompetent.”

“The fact that a 21-year-old kid had access to this kind of material? Our allies are seeing us as sloppy and incompetent,” he said, adding that wider intra-agency intelligence sharing had been introduced among US allies in the aftermath of 9/11, which raised his concerns at the time.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has neither confirmed nor denied the authenticity of the leaked documents, acknowledging only that it was taking the matter “very seriously”. 

Pentagon: Highly-classified documents leak poses 'very serious' risk to US security

The Pentagon says recent online leak of highly sensitive documents poses a "very serious" risk to US national security.

Reports said the alleged leaker, who went by the nickname "OG," regularly posted documents in the chat group in question for months.

The group of around 24 people, including some from Russia and Ukraine, bonded over their "mutual love of guns, military gear and God," and formed an "invitation-only clubhouse in 2020 on Discord," reported the Post -- which like the Times cited unidentified members of Thug Shaker Central.

The leaked documents revealed once more that the US was spying on its allies.

It also pointed to the US military's unease over the viability of a coming counteroffensive by Kiev's forces against Russian troops as well as concerns about Ukrainian air defenses.

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US Joint Chiefs chair Mark Milley assesses Ukraine

In the meantime, the US has a long history of spying on its allies. 

In 2013, American whistle-blower Edward Snowden leaked thousands of classified documents exposing the vast scope of US espionage activities on friends and foes, alike.

The documents exposed by the former intelligence contractor for NSA showed that Washington was spying on its own citizens and carrying out widespread tapping worldwide.

Snowden, who lives in Russia where he has been granted asylum, faces multiple charges in the US.

The charges filed against Snowden by the United States include theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful transfer of classified intelligence information. Snowden received a Russian passport after swearing an oath of allegiance to the country.
 

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