Pentagon begins full criminal probe of leaks

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday that the Army is leading the Pentagon‘s inquiry into the source of leaked classified intelligence logs from the Afghanistan war.

Col. Dave Lapan said the criminal probe launched Tuesday is aimed at finding the source of secret documents published Sunday by the online site Wikileaks.

The Army’s criminal investigative division led the investigation into Bradley Manning, an Army intelligence specialist charged with leaking other material to Wikileaks.

Col. Lapan said it’s not clear whether the latest material came from Mr. Manning or someone else.

The Army will have the power to investigate members of other military branches.

Earlier Tuesday, Geoffrey S. Morrell, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, told CBS’ “The Early Show” that the military has launched “a very robust investigation” into the leak of Afghanistan war secrets but that it doesn’t know who’s responsible.

Mr. Morrell said the document drop “involves secrets that should not be disseminated into the public domain and could potentially endanger our operations and our forces in Afghanistan.” He said that even most recent of the leaked documents “is at least six months old by now.”

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