The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has traced the source that leaked highly classified documents from the Pentagon back to an Air National Guardsman. 21-year-old Jack Douglas Teixeira, who is a member of the US Air Force National Guard, was arrested in the state of Massachusetts earlier today.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed the arrest and said that Teixeira was currently being held “in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorised removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information”. During the investigation, it was surmised by the Washington Post that whoever leaked the documents was, in all possibility, someone of the suspect’s age, an American that grew up with gaming and guns in their life, and most importantly, would be a soldier within a military branch.
The investigation is still ongoing but US officials found that Teixeira also controlled a Discord server, through which he leaked the classified documents, all just so that he could get the one thing a person his age would do: he wanted to impress his friends. His channel wasn’t as big, with only 25 members in total, but the problem was that it included individuals that hailed from Europe, Asia, and South America. Unsurprisingly, once the authenticity of said documents were verified by other sources, they began spreading like wildfire, leading to the current predicament the US government is in right now.
As we reported yesterday, Teixeira’s leaking of US Pentagon documents is also the most potentially devastating, and could even be more impactful than those leaked by Edward Snowden back in 2013. Alleged content from the highly classified documents reportedly included references to Russian and Chinese activities, and about how the current war in Ukraine has drawn the latter country into helping the former. Not only that, but the leaked documents also seemingly point to the US spying on allied countries, including South Korea and Israel. Among other things.
Another matter that the US government will most certainly be asking, in light of Teixeira’s arrest, is how exactly a low-ranking Air Force National Guardsman even managed to get his hands on documents, some likely modified down the line, that was clearly not for his eyes.
(Source: The Register, BBC)
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Telegram for more updates and breaking news.
