Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday that the leak of reams of top-secret intelligence documents online has not hampered cooperation between the US and its global allies and partners.
“We have engaged with our allies and partners since these leaks came out, and we have done so at high levels, and we have made clear our commitment to safeguarding intelligence and our commitment to our security partnerships,” the country’s top diplomat told reporters in Hanoi.
“What I’ve heard so far at least is an appreciation for the steps that we’re taking, and it’s not affected our cooperation. I just haven’t seen that. I haven’t heard that,” he said, adding the investigation into the security breach was “taking its course.”
“But to date, based on the conversations I’ve had, I have not, not heard anything that would affect our cooperation with allies and partners,” Blinken said.
The spilling of some of the country’s most sensitive intelligence revealed that the US was secretly keeping tabs on its allies, and contained information about Russian troop strength and Ukraine’s military planning.
Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman from Massachusetts, was hit with federal charges on Friday after he was arrested by heavily armed federal agents at his North Dighton, Mass., home the day before.
He’s accused of gaining access to the classified documents through his military post where he had a top-secret clearance rating and then sharing them with a private chat group.
The highly sensitive documents circulated online for several months before the US government took notice and launched an investigation.
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