Spies around the world scrambling to find culprit behind 'biggest intelligence leak of the decade' as NATO files exposed

It's the biggest intelligence leak in almost a decade – and has spies all around the world scrabbling to unmask the culprit.

Just over a week ago, the bombshell news emerged that someone had posted dozens of classified NATO intelligence files on the dark web that reveal secrets on everything from the ongoing Russia Ukraine war to American views on China, the Middle East and Africa.

Bizarrely the leak first emerged on a Discord internet server devoted to the kids’ computer game, Minecraft.

On March 4, during a row on the site about the war in Ukraine one user boasted: "here, have some leaked documents" – and posted 10 of the documents.

Others soon began to appear on other Discord servers and it is now estimated some 100 maps and documents have been leaked.

Experts agree the documents are mostly genuine and also warn their leaking has the real capacity to embarrass American intelligence capacities worldwide – and deliver a hammer blow to Ukraine.

So far, around 100 documents have appeared online and many of them deal with hush intelligence on the Ukraine conflict, which has cost tens of thousands of lives since Russia President Vladimir Putin launched an illegal invasion of his neighbour in February 2022.

Most of the documents appear to be NATO briefing maps, showing the current state of play in the war.

But they also appear to show exactly what military material each NATO country has sent to Ukraine - as well as where their army units are based.

That is manna from heaven for Putin’ s soldiers, who have been performing badly in recent weeks and are braced for a massive spring counter offensive from the Ukrainians.

The documents also show America fears that Ukraine is running dangerously low on air defence missile stocks – one of the most vital elements of its armoury. Ukraine has used surface to air missiles to shoot down many of the hundreds of Russian suicide drones and missiles that have targeted the country in the last year.

Many of the missile systems were made in western Europe or America, but the leaked documents say the Ukrainians are now running low on ammunition for them.

According to one of the documents, Ukraine’s “ability to provide medium range air defence to protect the [front lines] will be completely reduced by May 23. Ukraine assessed to withstand 2-3 more wave strikes.

“As 1st Layer Defence munitions run out, 2nd and 3rd Layer expenditure rates will increase, reducing the ability to defend against Russian aerial attacks from all altitudes.”

The documents also appear to reveal where the CIA has recruited spies as well as details of what satellites America uses to monitor Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

The leak also appears to show that America is gathering intelligence on close allies, such as Israel, south Korea and Ukraine.

One document, marked "Top Secret" and from a CIA Intel update from March 1, says the Mossad intelligence agency was encouraging protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to tighten controls on the Supreme Court.

The document said the U.S. learned this through signals intelligence, suggesting the United States had been spying on one of its most important allies in the Middle East.

Although most are genuine, it is clear some have been doctored.

For example, one minimises the number of Russian soldiers believed killed – while overestimating the number of Ukrainians who have died in the war.

The Russians are already examining the haul - and are rubbing their hands in glee.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of them yesterday: “They are all being studied, analysed, widely discussed.”

And it is not only Russia that is examining them.

America and its NATO and other allies are scrambling to find exactly how the sensitive documents appeared online on Discord chat server within the last few weeks – and unmask the leaker.

The FBI is now leading the hunt for the traitor and it is suspected the leaker is an American.

It’s understood most of the documents were prepared for General Mark Miley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – the United States’ most senior army officer, who advises President Biden on all military matters.

But although they were printed for him, security experts in America say several thousands of people could have had access to them and finding the culprit could be difficult,

But there is one thing that should help the FBI – the culprit left a massive clue.

He or she took photographs of documents – many marked Top Secret that had already been printed out.

NATO security rules see records kept of all sensitive documents that are printed out – so investigators should be able to establish the exact identities of staff who sent it to the printer.

Experts warned that the list would not include other people who did not print the documents but later had access to them – but it would significantly reduce the number of suspects.

The experts also said it was likely that if the culprit was identified, they would more than likely be locked up for the rest of their life.

The scale of the leak has been so large and so damaging that the FBI would seek to send out a message to anyone else considering doing the same thing.

And that would mean a whole life sentence.

But experts also fear the damage to the US intelligence community's reputation could last just as long.

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