WASHINGTON, Apr 17 US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin instructed the department review the handling of classified government documents within 45 days, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said.
«Secretary of Defense Austin has ordered a comprehensive review of the handling of classified documents, and within 45 days he should be presented with initial findings and recommendations for improving policies and procedures related to the protection of confidential data,» Singh said during a briefing.
Currently, the Pentagon is investigating a leak in the social network of materials describing the state of the Ukrainian troops and the plans of the United States and NATO to strengthen them. The New York Times noted that the documents, dated early March, are allegedly distributed in «Russian pro-government telegram channels.»
It was alleged that more than 100 documents could have got into the Internet, the damage from what happened is estimated as significant. The Pentagon reported that they were studying information about the leak. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, answering a question about the leak, said that the Russian Federation had no doubts that the United States and NATO were directly or indirectly involved in the Ukrainian conflict.