Retired General Reacts to Report of Leak Source: 'God Help Our Country'

The person behind the leak of classified Pentagon documents over the weekend allegedly works at a military base, according to a source familiar with the security breach who spoke to The Washington Post.

The Post reported Wednesday night that a "friend" who is part of the Discord chatroom where the Pentagon documents were supposedly leaked said that one of the members in the chatroom claimed to have gotten the classified materials from his job at a military base, but declined to name which one. The report has not been independently verified by Newsweek, and the Discord group member who spoke to the Post requested to remain anonymous.

The Pentagon and Department of Justice have launched an investigation into how exactly the documents were shared online, which contained details about U.S. intelligence and other sensitive information regarding the war in Ukraine. The Post's report about the leak caught the attention of former U.S. Army General Mark Hertling, who has previously shared his expertise on the Russia-Ukraine war as the former commanding general of the United States Army Europe.

Hertling tweeted a link to the Post's story Wednesday night, writing, "Gifting this article ... if this turns out to be the true story behind the document leak, God help our country."

"If true, the desire for 'fame' by the leader who is among a group of young gamers is unfathomable," he added.

The report from the Post claims that the source of the leak is considered "the elder leader" of the Discord group chat, who took time annotating and explaining parts of the classified documents so that other members of the online group could understand some of the materials' jargon.

The group member who spoke to the Post is reportedly under 18 years old and met the source of the leak when he was a young teenager.

Since the initial leak, the classified documents have been shared on several social media platforms, including 4Chan, Telegram and Twitter. CNN previously reported that the materials first appeared on Discord, and the platform told reporters that it was cooperating with law enforcement regarding the leak. Newsweek could not independently confirm that the documents first appeared on Discord.

Marina Miron, post-doctoral researcher at the Department of War Studies at King's College London, previously told Newsweek that the documents could have also been released by Russian intelligence agencies for "psychological impact" against Ukraine. The classified materials laid out details from U.S. and NATO allies about what Kyiv's forces would need for a potential counteroffensive against Moscow in the coming months.

Newsweek has reached out to the Department of Defense via email for comment.