Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old US Air National Guardsman, is due to appear in court on Friday in connection with the leak of highly classified military documents about the Ukraine war and other national security issues. Mr Teixeira was arrested by the FBI at his family home in Dighton, Massachusetts, on Thursday. He is charged with the unauthorised removal and transmission of classified information.
Mr Teixeira worked as an IT specialist in the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts National Guard, based at Otis Air National Guard Base. He joined the National Guard in 2019 and holds the rank of Airman 1st Class – a relatively junior position. The leaks revealed US assessments of the war in Ukraine as well as sensitive secrets about American allies, embarrassing Washington and raising fresh questions over the security of classified documents.
It was not until intelligence material was posted outside the chat room group that Pentagon officials became aware of the leak, prompting a massive search for the culprit. Aside from the age of the suspect, the motive is also thought to be unusual. While Mr Teixeira is said to have harboured a scepticism of government, friends said he was neither a whistleblower nor a foreign agent.
The Pentagon says it will re-examine how classified information is distributed, but a spokesman said it was “the nature” of the US military to entrust young service members with high levels of responsibility. Footage of the arrest in Dighton shows a young man walking backwards with his hands raised to armed FBI officers. He was handcuffed and led to a vehicle. US Attorney General Merrick Garland said the suspect was taken into custody without incident.
The leaks were first posted on an online chat group run by Mr Teixeira, which was made up mainly of male teenagers. The documents were then shared on other Discord servers, including ones dedicated to the game Minecraft and a Filipino YouTuber. From there they were posted on the fringe message board 4chan and on the Telegram chat app, particularly on pro-Russia channels.
Republican congressman Mike Turner – the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee – vowed to “examine why this happened, why it went unnoticed for weeks, and how to prevent future leaks”. The Pentagon is continuing to work to “understand the scope, scale and impact” of the leaks.
Jack Teixeira’s arrest has raised questions about how young service members are entrusted with high levels of responsibility and how classified information is distributed. It has also prompted a review of security protocols to ensure that such leaks do not occur again in the future. The motive for the leaks is still unclear, although it is thought to be unusual. Friends have said that Mr Teixeira was neither a whistleblower nor a foreign agent.