They reveal the identity of the author of the leak of classified Pentagon documents: he is 21 years old

The FBI wants to question a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard in connection with the leak of hundreds of pages of classified military intelligence from USA to a group of young friends online, multiple people familiar with the matter reported Thursday.

A source speaking on condition of anonymity told Reuters, the suspect will be arrested this Thursday in Massachusetts.

LOOK: Russia and allies spied on: how much the document leak scandal complicates the United States

The FBI had previously narrowed the list of suspects in the leak of documents that revealed details about the US government’s internal assessments of the war and relations with allies.

Investigators now believe that the person who led the chat group where the documents were posted is a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard who specializes in intelligence, according to the two people, who were not authorized to discuss publicly an ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The newspaper The New York Times had previously reported on the FBI’s interest in the young man, identified by people familiar with the matter as Jack Teixeira.

A person familiar with Teixeira told The Washington Post that he was a junior member of the armed forces, but that had access to highly sensitive information through his role as an IT technician within the military organization.

The Department of Defense did not confirm his identity, but said in a statement that “we are aware of the investigation into the alleged role that a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard may have played in the recent leak of highly classified documents.”

The US government has been assessing the national security and diplomatic consequences of the leak since it was first reported last week. A Pentagon spokesman told reporters days ago that the disclosures raise “a very serious risk to national security” and the Department of Justice launched an investigation to find those responsible.

The investigation began in early April, when Pentagon officials first learned that Documents on an extraordinary variety of topics exposed how the United States spies on friend and foe alike.. The leak of dozens of secret pages also upset top Ukrainian officials, who had tried to keep details of their military’s vulnerabilities hidden as Russia’s war with Ukraine entered its second year.

“We are getting closer”, President Joe Biden told reporters in Ireland earlier Thursday. He said that while he is dismayed that the documents have been leaked, “to my knowledge, there is nothing contemporary in them that is of great importance.”

The Justice Department declined to comment on the matter Thursday.

According to US media, the leak started in a group called Thug Shaker Central in discorda popular social networking platform among fans of online video games.

The group, of about 24 people, including people from Russia and Ukraine, came together over their “mutual love of guns, military equipment, and God” and formed an “invitation-only club in 2020 on Discord,” they reported. The New York Times and The Washington Post. The alleged leaker, who called himself “OG,” has reportedly been regularly posting documents to the group for months.

Although OG had a “dark vision of the government” and “spoken of the United States, and particularly the law enforcement and intelligence community, as a sinister force seeking to suppress its citizens and keep them in the dark,” the members said that I was trying to impress them.

OG told members of the group that he spent part of the day “inside a secure facility that prohibited cell phones and other electronic devices,” according to the post. post.

In the wake of the leak, the Department of Defense took steps to further restrict access to this type of sensitive information, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters in the Biden entourage.

Washington also wants social media companies “avoid facilitating” the distribution of such materialhe added.

Discord reported that it is cooperating with law enforcement agencies.

With information from AP, Reuters and The Washington Post

Source: Elcomercio

jack

I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.