Army reservist Jack Teixeira arrested for leaking US military secrets
The United States has been left embarrassed after a 21-year-old was arrested over a “massive and catastrophic” leak of sensitive information.
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A 21-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the leaking of a trove of sensitive US intelligence documents relating to Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Scores of documents were posted to an online internet gaming group.
Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira was arrested in the town of North Dighton, Massachusetts, 70km south of Boston on Thursday afternoon, US time.
The Air National Guard is a military reserve force of the US.
“FBI agents took Teixeira into custody earlier this afternoon without incident,” US attorney general Merrick Garland said on Thursday.
The arrest was connected to the “alleged unauthorised removal, retention and transmission of classified national defence information”.
US stunned by arrest
Images of the arrest have been beamed around the world. So how could such a young, low-ranking troop have gotten access to so many critical secrets?
That’s a question the Biden administration is struggling to answer.
“It’s outrageous that these kinds of documents would be shared with an insignificant national guard unit,” journalist Dennis Wilder said. “This is a real Pentagon problem.”
Former speechwriter for president George Bush Marc Thiessen said: “It is treason.”
“The idea that a 21-year-old kid can expose sources and methods of how we spy, how we have penetrated the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, because apparently we’ve exposed the fact we know they have a new hypersonic missile that can reach the United States, that they exposed our penetration of the Russian Defense Ministry, that could affect the war in Ukraine. I mean, the incompetence is stunning.”
“And it wasn’t, unlike Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, it wasn’t ideological,” he continued. “It was some kid trying to show off to his friends in a gaming chat room and has literally affected global national security by doing so. How this happens is just beyond me.”
Senator Tim Scott said the leak was a “massive, catastrophic occurrence that should never have happened.”
“We’re talking about imperilling likely American lives,” he explained. “We’re talking about weakening our relationship with our allies, emboldening the strength of our adversaries and revealing plans about attacks and co-ordination for Ukraine and other allies.”
BREAKING: Massive police presence in North Dighton outside suspected classified document leakers home. We can see what appears to be a tactical team Dow the street. We’re being kept about a half mile away pic.twitter.com/ofGwvrdUJc
— Tim White (@TimWhiteRI) April 13, 2023
How Teixeira was found
It’s thought he was tracked down because the photographs of the leaked documents included background details from his home.
On a visit to Ireland, US President Joe Biden had said officials were close to identifying a suspect in the case which has seen perhaps up to 100 top secret documents leaked including assessments of an Ukrainian counter attack against Russian forces in its occupied territories and claims the US spied on its own allies.
However, Pentagon officials have said some of the documents appear to have been doctored.
The New York Times first reported Mr Teixeira’s identity on Thursday, adding that investigators wanted to talk to him about the leak and say that he may have information relevant to the investigation.
That followed a report by the Washington Post late on Wednesday that the classified files were shared to a Discord channel called “Thug Shaker Central”.
On February 28, some of the documents were reported by a member of the Discord channel “wow_mao“.
A member of that channel in turn posted some of them on March 4 to the even larger channel “Minecraft Earth Map”
From there they were sent to notorious online messaging board 4chan followed by Twitter and pro-Russian war channels on social media app Telegram.
The New York Times reported on Thursday that Mr Teixeira’s online gaming profile linked him to other members of the channel.
The paper also reported that details of the interior of Mr Teixeira’s childhood home from pictures posted to social media matched items on the margins of some of the photographs of the secret documents.
Images of the documents reviewed by The Post indicated they are briefing slides that were photographed while laid out on a desk or table.
In at least two photographs, a brochure with apparent information about a rifle scope can be seen. In another photograph, a package of Gorilla Glue can be seen.
The National Guard said in a statement it was aware on Thursday of the “alleged role a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman may have played in the recent leak of highly-classified documents” from the Pentagon, reported Fox News.
“The National Guard takes this issue very seriously and will support investigators.
“National security is our foremost priority and any attempt to undermine it compromises our values and degrades trust among our members, the public, allies and partners.”
– with the New York Post and Fox News
Originally published as Army reservist Jack Teixeira arrested for leaking US military secrets
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