Kirby Condemns Journalists Who Leaked Pentagon Docs

John Kirby, a National Security Council spokesman, called out journalists reporting on the leaked U.S. classified documents during Monday’s White House press briefing.

The Biden administration official confirmed that a Justice Department criminal investigation into the source of the leak, the reason for it, and its validity was ongoing. In the meantime, Kirby stressed, the files should not be shared.

“Without confirming the validity of the documents, this is information that has no business in the public domain,” he stated. “It has no business, if you don’t mind me saying, on the … front pages of newspapers, or on television. It is not intended for public consumption, and it should not be out there.”

“In order to protect this country every day the way we do, one of the things that we have to protect is information,” he continued, “not only the information itself but the manner in which we glean that information.”

Last week, more than 100 documents surfaced on Telegram and Twitter detailing specific United States intelligence reports on the war in Ukraine, an effort to spy on South Korea, and Turkish cooperation with Israel.

“The mood is anger,” a Pentagon official told Politico. “It’s a massive betrayal.”

“I’m sick to my stomach,” another one said.

The Defense Department has established an “interagency effort” to assess the impact of the leak, CNN noted.

But U.S. officials and close allies already fear the information could jeopardize sensitive sources and compromise relationships.

“We expect the U.S. to share a damage assessment with us in the coming days, but we cannot wait for their assessment. Right now, we are doing our own,” an intelligence official for a U.S. ally told the network.

“We are poring over these documents to figure out if any of the intelligence originated from our collection,” the source added.