Pentagon spokesman says Army will lead broad criminal inquiry into source of leaked war logs

Pentagon begins full criminal probe of leaks

WASHINGTON — A Pentagon spokesman says the Army is leading the Pentagon’s inquiry into the source of leaked classified intelligence logs from the Afghanistan war.

Col. Dave Lapan (luh-PAN’) says 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.

Lapan says it’s not clear whether the latest material came from Manning or someone else. The Army will have the power to investigate members of other military branches.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Pentagon spokesman says the military has launched “a very robust investigation” into the leak of Afghanistan war secrets but doesn’t know who’s responsible.

Geoff Morrell tells CBS’s “The Early Show” the dissemination of over 90,000 documents detailing U.S. strategy, and information about targets and war partners, including Pakistan, poses a substantial hazard to American fighting forces in the wartorn country.

Morrell says 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 says that even most recent of the leaked documents “is at least six months old by now.”