The Pentagon, on the leak of classified documents: "It was a deliberate criminal act"

MADRID, 14 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The United States Pentagon has ruled this Thursday on the leak of classified documents from the Department's Intelligence service, arguing that it is "a deliberate criminal act."

"It is important to understand that we have strict guidelines in place to safeguard sensitive and classified information. This has been a deliberate criminal act, a violation of those guidelines," Defense Department spokesman General Pat Ryder told a conference press.

"I think it's important to understand that we will continue to do everything we can to ensure that people who have a need to know when it comes to this type of information have access to it," he added.

Ryder, who has remarked that steps have been taken to limit access to Department of Defense documents, added that his office continues to "work day and night together with the interagency and intelligence community to better understand the scope, scale and the impact of these leaks".

"We continue to review a variety of factors, as it relates to the protection of classified materials. This includes reviewing and updating mailing lists, evaluating how and where intelligence products are shared, as well as other steps," he explained.

Likewise, he recalled that he is limited in what he can comment on the ongoing investigation at the Department of Justice and has stressed that "the fact that classified information" is published elsewhere "does not mean that it has been declassified by an authority ", so it will not confirm the content of the documents.

"For that reason, we will continue to encourage those of you reporting this story to take these latter factors into account, and to consider the potential consequences of posting potentially sensitive documents or information online or elsewhere," Ryder said.

The Defense spokesman has also stressed that the Biden Administration "is going to take advantage" of this "opportunity" to "review and refine" the "strict protocols" that exist in the institutions for the "protection and safeguarding" of classified information from the US government. .