US struggles to discover source of top secret intel leak

American officials are scrambling to pinpoint the source of the latest online leak of highly classified military and intelligence documents, including intel about Ukraine's air defenses and the Israeli regime's infamous Mossad spy agency.

US officials further state that the span of topics discussed in the leaked files -- which address the Ukraine conflict, China,West Asia and Africa -- suggest that the breach may have been perpetrated by an American rather than a foreign ally, Western media outlets reported on Sunday and Monday.

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

The Pentagon has referred the case to the Department of Justice, which has opened a criminal investigation.

Two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that while there was concern about the leak at the Pentagon and intelligence agencies, the documents showed a snapshot in time from more than a month ago, rather than more recent assessments.

The two officials said the military and intelligence agencies were looking at their processes for how widely some of the intelligence is shared internally.

Officials are also looking into the possible motivations a US official or a group of officials would have in leaking such sensitive information, said one of the officials cited in a Reuters report.

The official said investigators were looking at four or five theories, from a disgruntled employee to an insider threat who actively wanted to undermine US national security interests.

US officials also underlined that the investigation is in its early stages but have already alleged -- without evidence -- that pro-Russian elements may be behind the leak, which is seen as one of the most serious security breaches since more than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2013.

ME