Pentagon scrambles to plug leaks as officials fear more to come

WASHINGTON — Five days after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he first learned that troves of highly sensitive intelligence documents had been leaked online, Pentagon investigators have more questions than answers.

One question stands out: “Are more leaks coming?” As does its answer: “We don’t know.”

After the Defense Department pledged Monday to re-examine who can access sensitive information slides similar to those found on several social media sites starting late last week, Pentagon spokesman Chris Meagher said investigators are “still trying to assess what might be out there.”

“We’re still investigating how this happened, as well as the scope of the issue,” he said.

“There have been steps to take a closer look at how this type of information is distributed and to whom.”

The documents, some of which were leaked online last month but were made widely known April 6, are “similar in format to those used to provide daily updates to our senior leaders on Ukraine and Russia-related operations,” admitted Meagher, who added that they also included “other intelligence updates.”

While Meagher declined to speak to the “veracity” of the leaked documents — some of which included critical information related to weapons supplies — he said some appeared to have been “altered.”

He did not elaborate on what officials believe had been changed in the documents, but asked the public not to share images of the papers.

While it’s unclear if others in the Pentagon were aware of the leaks when they first took place, Meagher said Austin was first notified of the breach on April 6 and began holding daily meetings the following day with senior leaders to discuss the fallout.

“The documents that that we are aware of are dated the 28th of February and 1st of March,” Austin told reporters Tuesday at a news conference alongside Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“I don’t know if there are other documents that are, that have been online before.

“These are things that we will find out as we continue to investigate.

“We will continue to investigate and try to determine the full scope of of the activity.”

The Pentagon chief added that the documents “were somewhere in the web, and where exactly and who had access at that point? We don’t know. We simply don’t know at this point.

“Again, I won’t speculate … I will tell you that we take this very seriously and we will continue to investigate and turn over every rock until we find the source of this and the extent of it.”

While the DoD’s probe is focused on how — and how many — secret and top-secret documents were stolen and distributed, the Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation at the Pentagon’s request.

“Disclosure of sensitive classified material can have tremendous implications not only for our national security, but could lead to people losing their lives,” Meagher said.

“The secretary and Department of Defense and the United States government take this apparent unauthorized disclosure extremely seriously and this is a top priority for us.”

The leaks have frustrated several lawmakers with some, such as House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), calling on the Biden administration to brief Congress on its impacts to national and global security.

“Any breech of classified material is serious, especially when sources and methods are identified,” McCaul told The Post Tuesday.

“I urge the administration to investigate and move swiftly to identify the leaker and take appropriate action.”

“The administration must also brief Congress on the security implications of this leak,” the congressman added.

Meagher, the Pentagon spokesman, declined to commit to a briefing, saying the implications were “something [DoD investigators] are still looking into.”

“We’re going to continue to coordinate efforts to determine the damage,” he said.

“We’re still coordinating efforts to determine the impact these documents might have on our national security going forward.”

Some US officials have warned that too many personnel have had access to sensitive information and the leak should serve as a wake-up call.

The latest breach is believed to be one of the most damaging to national security in recent years, drawing comparisons to leaks by former National Security Agency contractors Edward Snowden in 2013 and Reality Winner in 2017.

While Snowden is in Russian exile avoiding extradition to the United States, Winner was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison for her disclosure of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.