US SECRET DOCUMENTS
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In the United States, the FBI arrested this Thursday, April 13, Jack Teixeira, the main suspect in leaking multiple classified Pentagon documents. According to preliminary information, it is a 21-year-old man who served in the Massachusetts Air National Guard. Attorney General Merrick Garland reported that Teixeira would be charged with the unauthorized removal of classified national defense information.
The FBI on Thursday arrested a man who had worked in the US Air Force National Guard over online leaks of classified Pentagon documents containing military details about the Ukraine war and other sensitive information concerning several allies of the North American country such as South Korea and Israel.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said the FBI had arrested the man, Jack Teixeira, “in connection with an investigation into the alleged unauthorized extraction, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information.”
“This investigation is ongoing,” Garland added. For his part, the Pentagon had claimed the leaks were a “deliberate criminal act.”
US President Joe Biden’s administration has been working to assess the diplomatic and national security implications of the leaked documents since they were first exposed last week. A Pentagon spokesman told reporters earlier this week that the leaks represent “a very serious risk to national security.” The US Department of Justice had launched a criminal investigation after the leak of the documents.
Biden assures that there is no “immediate risk”
The released documents revealed US intelligence concerns about the feasibility of a Ukrainian counter-offensive against Russian forces, due to training and supply problems.
A document reviewed by the AFP news agency describes US nervousness about Ukraine’s ability to continue defending itself against Russian attacks.
Biden acknowledged Thursday that he was “worried” about the leak of the documents, but appeared to rule out any immediate risk.
“I’m concerned that this happened”, Biden said in front of the press shortly after meeting in Dublin with the Irish president, Michael Higgins. “There is an ongoing investigation,” added the president. One that seems to have worked.
The investigation of ‘The Washington Post’
On the other hand, according to revelations made earlier this Thursday by the American newspaper, ‘Washington Post’, the leak of the Pentagon documents was the work of a young man in his twenties who reportedly worked at a US military base. Using the pseudonym “OG,” he regularly posted hundreds of pages of copied documents from the military base where he worked for months and shared the information in a private online group.
Exclusive: The man behind a massive leak of US government secrets that has exposed spying on allies, revealed the grim prospects for Ukraine’s war with Russia and ignited diplomatic fires for the White House is a young, charismatic gun enthusiast who shared highly classified… pic.twitter.com/AkEBPEN0DS
—The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) April 13, 2023
“OG” would have moderated this chat group of about 20 people —mostly men and teenagers— on a Discord server (a chat service for online video game players), created in 2020, during the pandemic. The common thread among the members of the group is their passion for firearms, military equipment, and God. The American newspaper collected anonymous testimonies from two of its participants.
According to the two sources, for months, “OG” published hundreds of documents that were full transcripts of classified information collected at the military base where he worked. One of the witnesses, a minor, interviewed by the ‘WP’, told the newspaper that the man wanted to “keep the members of his group informed on-line” of the government’s actions. The witness also told the newspaper that “OG” never positioned himself as a whistleblower.
“They are not accidental leaks”
The young witness also reported that he was in awe of “OG”‘s ability to predict major events before they hit the news. Some information that “only someone with such high credentials” could have known. The ‘WP’ reports that “OG” spent hours in a secure facility where the use of mobile phones and electronic devices is prohibited. He annotated some of the documents, translating the coded jargon to make it accessible to members of his Discord group. In late 2022, “OG” allegedly began posting photos of the documents.
The young man told the Washington Post that the subject is “an intelligent person. He knew what he was doing when he published these documents, of course. They are not accidental leaks.”
The two witnesses interviewed by the newspaper said they knew the identity of “OG” and the state in which he lived. One of the two sources added that he “is armed and trained.” In a video seen by the ‘Post’, the man is at a shooting range, hurling racist and anti-Semitic insults before firing several bursts.
Both members of the Discord group declined to share more information about their identity and refused to specify the basis on which they worked. For its part, the Discord platform said in a statement that it was cooperating with law enforcement.
AP, AFP, Reuters and local media
News in development…
