The FBI has arrested a suspect in the state of Massachusetts as part of its investigation into the leak of classified US government documents. This is a 21-year-old man serving in the Massachusetts Air National Guard, the Air Force Reserves branch of the National Guard.
The American media has already written about the alleged person behind tonight’s leak. The American newspaper The New York Times identified him as 21-year-old Jack Teixeira. Later that evening, Minister of Justice Garland confirmed that it was indeed Teixeira.
According to Garland, he was accused of unauthorized removal of classified national defense information. In an earlier press conference, the Pentagon mentioned a deliberate crime. Teixeira will appear in court shortly in Boston.
Authorities had been tracking him for a while, according to NBC News. His house was searched last night. This image shows the FBI arresting the suspect outside his home:
Teixeira is also said to be the manager of Discord, an online group that is popular with gamers and has around 20 to 30 members. The US newspaper “The New York Times” writes that the members are mostly young men in the chat group who talk about guns and video games and share racist memes.
The New York Times also spoke to four members of the chat group. They identified Teixeira as the leader of the group who had access to classified information through his work in the intelligence services. Members are said to come from many different countries, including Russia, Ukraine, and other countries in Europe, Asia, and South America.
Over the past few weeks, it has become clear that classified documents belonging to both the US military and US secret services have been circulating on the Internet. It consisted of hundreds of pages of documents classified as “secret” and “top secret”.
At first, the tracks only appeared in a private chat group on Discord. Later, they also appeared on Telegram, mostly in pro-Russian chat groups.
Among other things, the documents contain sensitive information about the war in Ukraine, such as weaknesses in the country’s air defense. It also contained information about United States allies. One of the biggest government leaks in the US in recent years.
President Biden, who is currently on a working visit to Northern Ireland, expressed concern about the leak earlier this morning. Still, he said he didn’t see any immediate danger in that.
Source: NOS
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
