WHEN NATIONAL SECURITY LEAKS WERE PATRIOTIC. National security circles in Washington are aghast at a new leak of classified U.S. military documents. Apparently originating in the Pentagon, the leak is said to include around 100 documents and focuses mostly on U.S. assistance to Ukraine and American assessments of Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the leaked material comes from a top-secret document in which U.S. intelligence concluded in February that Ukraine’s military effort is falling “well short” of its goals. According to an account in the Washington Post, that “bleak assessment” is “a marked departure from the Biden administration’s public statements about the vitality of Ukraine’s military and is likely to embolden critics who feel the United States and NATO should do more to push for a negotiated settlement to the conflict.”