It may prove to be the most serious intelligence leak the U.S. has had in a decade, and behind closed doors, it has set off uncomfortable conversations with the nation's closest allies.
The trove of classified documents dumped online revealed to the global public just how closely Americans are spying on their friends and foes at a most delicate time. The war in Ukraine is at a turning point. President Joe Biden is seeing the leader of the UK this week and then he will host his South Korean counterpart, a key partner in efforts to counter China, at the end of April.
As one foreign official put it, the timing is bad and the lack of public outcry from various capitals should fool no one.
South Korea, a critical partner on semiconductors and electric vehicles, said U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin already has called to talk about the incident, and Australia, which signed up for a multibillion-dollar submarine deal, is seeking further information.
U.S. allies are disconcerted by the biggest breach of U.S. intelligence since former federal contractor Edward Snowden handed out thousands of pages of classified documents to journalists. Rather than air their grievances out in the open, they are hitting the diplomatic back channels — and hitting them hard.
The Justice Department has launched an investigation to root out the leaker of what a Pentagon spokesman called “highly sensitive, classified” information. But the…
