US president Joe Biden has finally spoken about a cache of leaked Pentagon documents which were posted on multiple social media sites.
It comes as there have been multiple reports that the source of the leak has been identified - believed to be a young man who leaked the documents onto his Discord channel.
Documents appeared to detail US and NATO plans to send aide to Ukraine, and intelligence warning of depleting supplies in Ukraine's air defense.
Biden said while he was concerned that sensitive government documents had been leaked, "there's nothing contemporaneous that I'm aware of that is of great consequence."
He also confirmed there was a "full-blown" investigation into the source of the leak ongoing with the intelligence community and Justice Department.
"We're getting close," he said about answers. "But I don't have an answer."
The scale of the leak is yet to be confirmed, with some outlets such as the Associated Press viewing 50 documents, while others estimate there could be hundreds of documents leaked.
US officials have warned some documents may have been altered or used as part of a misinformation campaign. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby urged caution on Monday April 10, "since we know at least in some cases that information was doctored."
While it is not yet entirely clear where the documents came from, they were initially believed to be "somewhere in the web" according to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, April 11.
"They were somewhere in the web," he said, "and where exactly, and who had access tat that point, we don't know. We simply don't know.
"We will continue to investigate and turn over every rock until we find the source of this and the extent of it."
There have been multiple reports that the leak may have started on a Discord server. The social media platform and app is popular with online gamers, hosting real-time voice, video and text chats as well as streaming for groups.
It's thought the specific person behind the leak could be a young gun enthusiast, known on Discord as 'OG', who posted in a server hosted by a 20-year-old who goes by the username wow_mao.
The server is usually filled with memes and jokes, however one user decided to post the documents in the server, many of which are marked 'TOP SECRET'.
In a YouTube video addressing the leak, wow_mao said: "I can sort of understand how sharing big, private military secrets could be a funny thing to do among your internet friends.
"But c'mon, take care of yourself and stay away from doing stuff like this".
In what he called a "quick rundown" of what happened, wow_mao said: "On March 1 a mod on my discord server shared 30 plus leaked documents concerning the Russia-Ukraine war.
"And one month later my name is showing up on news sites such as Forbes, the Telegraph, and the Washington Post. I won't name who this moderator is since they're probably getting a lot of s**t right now, and you don't need me to tell you how bad it is to leak secret war documents.
"I completely denounce this. From what I understand it's nowhere near as bad to share already leaked private documents as it is to do the actual leaking, and from what I know this moderator found the actual documents from another Discord server - either from a Minecraft server where they were talking about maps, or I'm not kidding here, a server called 'Thug Shaker Central'.
"So yeah, we're definitely not at the centre of this leak. But my server was how a lot of people saw those documents for the first time.
"I should mention that my Discord server's never been perfect, hell it's been very much the opposite."
Speaking on Thursday, April 13, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the White House are urging social media companies to "avoid facilitating the circulation of material detrimental to public safety and national security."
She went on to say: "We do believe that social media companies have a responsibility to their users and the country to manage the private sector infrastructure that they create and then operate."
