The supply’s id was revealed by the New York Instances, which labored with NATO-funded investigators to determine him
Armed FBI brokers have arrested a 21-year-old army reservist believed to be behind the leaking of categorized Pentagon briefings, together with on the battle in Ukraine. The federal government was assisted in its manhunt by the identical media organizations that revealed the contents of the information.
Lawyer Common Merrick Garland confirmed the arrest of Jack Teixeira on Thursday afternoon, shortly after the FBI introduced that its brokers had performed an “approved legislation enforcement exercise” at his dwelling in North Dighton, Massachusetts.
Earlier on Thursday, the New York Instances (NYT) recognized Teixeira because the determine accountable for posting tons of of categorized army paperwork on a Discord server the place the paper stated “about 20 to 30 folks, principally younger males and youngsters, got here collectively over a shared love of weapons, racist on-line memes and video video games.”
Teixeira, a member of the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air Nationwide Guard, reportedly got here throughout the paperwork whereas in work.
The paperwork have been then posted on the broader web by a few of the group’s members, and reported on by the mass media. Though the NYT revealed plenty of tales primarily based on the information, it opted to not shield its supply and as a substitute outed Teixeira after partnering with “open supply intelligence” outfit Bellingcat to determine him.
Bellingcat is funded by a number of NATO governments and was caught working with the Ukrainian authorities to steal Russian warplanes final 12 months.
The information posted on-line by Teixeira revealed that US and NATO particular forces are lively in Ukraine, that Ukrainian casualties are larger than publicly acknowledged by US officers, that Kiev’s forces are low on ammunition, and that the US has spied on its allies all through the battle. Different paperwork within the assortment contained “delicate” materials associated to Ukraine, China, the Center East, and terrorism.
The Pentagon has neither confirmed or denied the paperwork’ authenticity, however has acknowledged that a few of the materials is “related in format” to its intelligence briefings. Some US and overseas officers have claimed that a number of of the information are false or doctored.
The White Home has requested the US media to not publish any damaging revelations from the leak. Mainstream retailers have principally complied, with the Washington Publish becoming a member of the New York Instances in trying to trace down the supply as a substitute. Instantly previous to the Instances naming Teixeira, the Publish recognized him as a “younger, charismatic gun fanatic” who labored inside a safe facility on a army base.
Teixeira was arrested “with out incident,” Garland stated. He might be arraigned in a federal court docket in Massachusetts, the lawyer common added.
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