U.S. authorities have arrested a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman in connection with the investigation into the leaking of top-secret defense and intelligence documents that have been circulated online, Attorney General Merrick Garland said on April 13.
Garland identified the guardsman as Jack Teixeira, who will be charged with the unauthorized removal of classified national defense information in one of the biggest U.S. security breaches in years.
Heavily armed federal agents arrived at Teixeira's home in the U.S. state of Massachusetts during the afternoon of April 13 and took the man -- wearing a T-shirt and shorts -- into custody “without incident," Garland said.
The identification of a 21-year-old Guardsman with a relatively low rank has quickly raised questions about how he could have had access to such highly classified documents.
The U.S. Air Force National Guard, without confirming his identity, said, “We are aware of the investigation into the alleged role a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman may have played in the recent leak of highly classified documents.”
U.S. President Joe Biden sought to allay concerns about the leak of the classified documents, which supposedly reveal details about the military capabilities of some U.S. allies and adversaries.
The Department of Justice opened a formal criminal probe into the matter after it was referred to the case by the Pentagon, which continues to assess the damage done by the release.
The Washington Post reported on April 12 that the person who allegedly posted the documents on a small chat group on the Discord social media platform was a gun enthusiast in his 20s who worked at a military base. The daily based its reporting on interviews with two unnamed members of the group. The documents were posted months ago without attracting attention until The New York Times reported on them.
“There’s a full-blown investigation going on, as you know, with the intelligence community and the Justice Department,” Biden told journalists in Dublin on April 13 before the arrest was announced. “And they’re getting close.”
Biden, who is in the middle of a four-day visit to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, said that he was “not concerned about the leak” because “there is nothing contemporaneous that I’m aware of.”
The White House said earlier in the day that Biden did not discuss the matter with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak when the two met in Northern Ireland earlier this week.
The number of documents leaked, some of which were reportedly marked top secret, is not clear.
They purportedly include sensitive disclosures about Ukraine, South Korea, Israel, and others. The Biden administration fears the leak could cause lasting damage to U.S. relations with key allies and strategic partners.
The Discord group allegedly included people from Russia and Ukraine, The Washington Post reported, and was focused on a “mutual love of guns, military gear and God.” The social media platform itself is popular with players of online games.
The man who posted the documents, who went by the online handle OG, allegedly told group members he sometimes worked in a secure facility at the base that “prohibited cell phones and other electronic devices.”
Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Ukrainian television on April 12 that “the risk of leaks is very minimal” because only a “very narrow circle of people” is aware of Ukrainian military planning.