US officials investigate leaked documents

The backstory: In the last few weeks, some classified US docs were leaked online containing sensitive information about US allies, like Israel, and other topics, including military intel on Ukraine. And, as you can guess, there's been a huge fuss about it.

More recently: US officials said the docs contain intel on China, the Middle East, Africa and Ukraine. They confirmed that many of the documents appear to be authentic. But not everything is accurate. For example, some reports have been doctored to downplay Russian losses in battle. Officials are worried that this could damage US relationships with other countries, and some experts even suspect that an American might be responsible for the leak. Others believe that pro-Russian groups could be involved.

The development: Some docs suggest that the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency was stirring up protests against Netanyahu's plans for the country's Supreme Court, which the Prime Minister said wasn't true. Other docs reveal internal discussions in South Korea surrounding the US pressure to supply weapons to Ukraine, which it has a policy against. And others uncover military info and strategy for the Ukranian side. But, one primary issue is that the sources of the information suggest the US has been spying on its allies and reveal just how deeply the country's penetrated Russian comms.

Now, the US is scrambling to figure out who's responsible. The Pentagon has tightly restricted access to intel to prevent further leaks and asked the Department of Justice to investigate. The Ukrainian presidential office said some of the leaked papers were fake and part of a Russian disinformation campaign, although a source close to Zelenskiy told CNN the military has already altered some of its plans because of the leaks. South Korea has also acknowledged the documents and has plans to discuss the situation with Washington.

Key comments:

So far, the Russian embassy in Washington and the Kremlin have yet to comment on the situation.

"The Department of Defense continues to review and assess the validity of the photographed documents that are circulating on social media sites and that appear to contain sensitive and highly classified material. An interagency effort has been stood up, focused on assessing the impact these photographed documents could have on U.S. national security and on our Allies and partners," said Sabrina Singh, Pentagon deputy press secretary, in a statement on Sunday.

"The focus now is on this being a US leak, as many of the documents were only in US hands," said Michael Mulroy, a former senior Pentagon official, to Reuters in an interview.

"We strongly demand a thorough investigation and urge that similar incidents do not occur," said lawmakers of South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party in a joint statement.