The British newspaper The Times revealed that the recent leaks of the Pentagon documents have alarmed the UK authorities, a member of the private intelligence alliance that is closed to America's English-speaking allies.
And it reported that the arrest of document leaker Jacques Teixeira last week on charges of stealing and leaking an unknown number of secrets would prompt a rethinking of the security clearances granted by intelligence officials in the coalition consisting of America, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which is called the “Five Eyes” ( Five Eyes).
And the newspaper stated in a report prepared by its security correspondent, Richard Kerbage, that although Teixeira (21 years old) apparently only wanted to show off to his friends, he was able – despite his young age – to access top secret files, including daily CIA reports. , Some of which were confined to US intelligence, and others included reports from the “Five Eyes” network issued by the member countries of the network. The acronym for the spy network, FVEY, appeared on a number of documents recently leaked from the Pentagon.
According to The Times, the leaked Pentagon documents have so far not caused significant damage to Britain, compared to the damage caused by the leaks of former US intelligence agent Edward Snowden, as the recent leaks have so far revealed only some of the UK's military operations in Ukraine.
But the British concern is due to several factors, the first of which is the lack of knowledge of other British secrets that Teixeira may have obtained, and the lack of knowledge whether he has published these secrets in other means that have not yet been discovered.
The newspaper said that the ambiguity about the British secrets that have long been leaked will inevitably raise the concern of British security officials because of the many secrets they exchange with the Americans.
She added that the exchange of information and intelligence secrets between Washington and London through the "Five Eyes" network is largely smooth, and includes the sharing of information for eavesdropping on communications, including phone calls and e-mail correspondence. It is this type of intelligence that appears most in Pentagon leaks.
But according to the newspaper, there is another point of concern for Britain, which is the large number of security statements issued by the United States, which is partly due to the size of its intelligence machine.
She pointed out that the operational budget of the CIA is 20 times the budget of the United Kingdom, which means that Britain's secrets are within the reach of many people in the United States.
Okaz (London) @okaz_online
