Due to a typo, several emails ended up in Mali instead of the Pentagon. The Putin-friendly country probably also received sensitive data.
Salisbury – The story might make you smile if it didn’t have far-reaching implications. Due to a typo, several emails destined for the US Pentagon from the UK ended up in Mali. Messages, some of which contain sensitive data, thus ended up in the hands of the country, which has close ties to Russia and has repeatedly sided with Putin since the start of the Ukraine war. But the faux pas was not only made by the British, several emails were also sent incorrectly from the USA – the number is in the millions.
Information about hypersonic weapon development sent to Mali
After a newspaper report TheTimes revealed that classified emails from British military officials ended up in Mali instead of the Pentagon, the deputy defense secretary announced that he would carry out “an assessment” of the misdirected messages. According to information from the newspaper, which has received five emails, one of the strays contains the names of British and American employees who are researching a new design for hypersonic missiles in a secret defense laboratory.
The misdirection was caused by an omitted letter. Instead of putting “.mil” at the end of the e-mail address for messages to the Pentagon, the sender forgot the “i” and used it to send the e-mails to “.ml” – the domain for the West African country of Mali.
Exact number of UK mails not known
It is not known how many of the messages were ultimately sent to Mali. A spokesman for the UK Ministry of Defense said Newsweekthat an investigation had been launched into the “small number of emails that were incorrectly forwarded to the wrong email domain”.
Even if an e-mail contained the names of employees, the spokesman is confident “that they did not contain any information that could jeopardize operational security or technical data.” However, the security situation around the employees and the laboratory in Salisbury have tightened immensely. Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia shied away, as in the Tiergarten murder 2019not afraid to take drastic measures outside of one’s own borders.
Russia is researching hypersonic missiles itself and maintains relations with Mali
The problem with the incorrectly sent messages only becomes fully apparent when one considers the relationship between Mali and Russia. Since the start of the Ukraine war, Mali has repeatedly abstained from or voted against UN resolutions condemning the war. In addition, the troops of the Wagner mercenaries are an integral part of Mali’s President Assimi Goita’s retention of power.
For the Russian Ministry of Defense, possible information received could also be interesting because the country is currently investing in research into hypersonic missiles itself. The missiles excel at flying faster than Mach 5 at low, difficult-to-detect altitudes while remaining manoeuvrable. Under certain circumstances, they could also serve as carriers for nuclear warheads.
Mails from the USA are in the millions
In addition to the few explosive emails from Great Britain, a far larger number of messages from the USA are said to have ended up in Mali. As early as July 17, the Financial Times on the case when, for over a decade, millions of people who wanted to contact the Pentagon instead sent their messages to Mali — including military personnel, FBI agents and diplomats. In addition to many trivial messages should Counter-terrorism reports and information about a trip to Mali by the US Army Chief of Staff.
Incoming emails from outside can’t be monitored or filtered, Pentagon spokesman Tim Gorman said Newsweek. However, one coordinates “with the authority, industry partners and international allies” “in order to draw their attention to the possibility of unauthorized disclosure of information due to this typo.” (sh)
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