THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT says it’s identified the leaker who posted dozens of highly classified documents online in one of the most brazen and bizarre intelligence community leaks in years.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday that the FBI arrested Jack Teixeira, an Air National Guardsman, on suspicion of unauthorized retention and removal of national defense information.
Earlier on Thursday, The New York Times claimed to have identified Teixeira as the administration in charge of running the social media chat group where the leaks were posted. The Times says Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old enlisted serviceman in the Massachusetts Air National Guard’s 102nd Intelligence Wing, ran “Thug Shaker Central,” a Discord server which has roiled the U.S. national security bureaucracy. The server hosted documents about the state of the war in Ukraine, American eavesdropping on close allies, and a range of other closely held secrets.
The federal government appeared to be aware of the documents’ circulation online only last week, when the Times reported that Pentagon officials had begun an investigation after classified documents appeared on Telegram and Twitter. U.S. officials told the Times that they were looking to speak to Teixeira. The Times claimed to have linked Teixeira to the group, in part, through social media posts.
Hellbound and Down 