Federal authorities have arrested Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, for allegedly leaking classified documents on the internet.
The Attorney General, Merrick Garland, announced the arrest and the ongoing criminal investigation in a brief statement at the Justice Department. The FBI took Teixeira into custody on Thursday afternoon without any incident. According to Garland, Teixeira is accused of unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information.
Teixeira is an employee of the United States Air Force National Guard, and his initial appearance in the US District Court for Massachusetts is scheduled. The Attorney General, however, refused to answer any questions from the media.
Jack Teixeira was arrested by FBI agents on suspicion of unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information. The FBI arrested Teixeira at a residence in North Dighton, Massachusetts, which is over an hour from the military base where he worked.
Military records indicate that he has been in uniform since September 2019 and is currently assigned as a cyber transport systems journeyman at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod. The leaked documents revealed potentially hundreds of pages of intelligence about Russian activities in Ukraine and U.S. allies’ spying.
The U.S. officials had been searching for the source of the leak, and the arrest exemplifies their continued commitment to identifying, pursuing, and holding accountable those who betray the country’s trust and put national security at risk. The investigation is ongoing, and Teixeira will have an initial appearance in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts.
When asked about the role of the Massachusetts Air National Guard in intelligence activities, Air Force Brig. Gen Pat Ryder said that intelligence wings in the Air Force generally support intelligence requirements worldwide to support various types of intelligence missions and requirements, including active guard and reserve components.
Last month, classified documents from the Defense Department were found online. It remains unclear how long they had been on the internet or the total number that have been posted.
FBI Arrests Air National Guardsman
The documents revealed details about U.S. spying on Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine, secret assessments of Ukraine’s combat power, and intelligence-gathering on America’s allies, including South Korea and Israel, according to NBC News.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden stated that authorities seemed to be nearing a breakthrough in their inquiry. Two White House officials later confirmed that the president had been briefed about the arrest of Jack Teixeira, who was arrested in connection with the investigation into the leaked documents.
According to The New York Times, the suspect’s identity was revealed on Thursday, and he was allegedly the leader of a small online gaming group where the classified documents were first leaked.
The Washington Post also reported on the gaming group, but identified the leader only as “OG,” based on information from an anonymous minor who is a member of the group on the Discord platform. The Post claims to have seen about 300 photos of classified documents that the suspect leaked, most of which have not been made public.
However, NBC News has not yet confirmed whether the gaming group was indeed the origin of the leaked documents. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed stated that the leak was a significant security breach that should not happen again, and anyone who betrays their country by deliberately mishandling classified materials should be held accountable.
According to Eoghan Macguire, a researcher at Bellingcat, the documents were circulated on three separate Discord servers before they were shared on 4chan. The Pentagon is leading an interagency effort to review the potential national security implications of the leak, and the Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation.
