FBI brokers on Thursday arrested a younger nationwide guardsman suspected of being behind a serious leak of delicate US authorities secrets and techniques — together with in regards to the Ukraine struggle.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland introduced the arrest made “in reference to an investigation into alleged unauthorized removing, retention and transmission of categorised nationwide protection info.”
Addressing a news briefing, Garland named the suspect as Jack Teixeira — previously identified by US media as a 21-year-old airman, and the apparent leader of an online chat room where the document trove first emerged.
Garland confirmed that Teixeira is an employee of the United States Air Force National Guard, and said FBI agents took him into custody “without incident.”
News helicopter footage confirmed the suspect, in purple shorts along with his arms behind his again, being positioned by heavily-armed brokers into an unmarked sports activities utility car, in a forested space in North Dighton, within the northeastern state of Massachusetts.
Teixeira was as a consequence of make an preliminary look on the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
US media started honing in on Teixeira after The Washington Post reported that a whole lot of pages of paperwork had been posted on the social media platform Discord by a person who labored on a US army base.
According to The New York Times, a “path of digital proof” pointed to Teixeira as the leader of the private chat group on Discord, called Thug Shaker Central, where the documents surfaced.
The embarrassing security breach has revealed US unease over the viability of a coming counteroffensive by Kyiv’s forces against Russian troops as well as concerns about Ukrainian air defenses, and pointed to US spying on allies.
President Joe Biden addressed the leaks during a visit to Ireland, saying he was “concerned” however that the intelligence group and Justice Department have been “getting shut” to identifying the source of the leak.
Reports said the alleged leaker, who went by the nickname “OG,” commonly posted paperwork within the chat group in query for months.
The group of round 24 individuals, together with some from Russia and Ukraine, bonded over their “mutual love of weapons, army gear and God,” and formed an “invitation-only clubhouse in 2020 on Discord,” reported the Post — which just like the Times cited unidentified members of Thug Shaker Central.
– ‘National security implications’ –
OG advised the group members that he spent “some of his day inside a safe facility that prohibited cellphones and different digital units,” the Post report said.
He first wrote down the contents of classified documents to share with the group, but later began taking photos, telling other members not to share them, the newspaper reported.
OG had a “dark view of the government,” and “spoke of the United States, and significantly regulation enforcement and the intelligence group, as a sinister drive that sought to suppress its residents and maintain them at midnight,” the Post said, citing one of the group’s members.
A Discord spokesperson told AFP that user safety is a priority, and that content violating its policies can result in people being banned, servers being shut down, and police alerted.
“In regards to the apparent breach of classified material, we are cooperating with law enforcement,” the spokesperson stated.
“As this stays an energetic investigation, we can not present additional remark presently.”
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(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is revealed from a syndicated information company feed)
