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A 21-year-old man has been arrested in the US after it was alleged that he leaked classified Pentagon documents.
The leak, which contained critical information, including military secrets and information regarding the nation’s allies, was allegedly conducted by Jack Teixeira, a former air national guardsman.
“Today, the Justice Department arrested Jack Douglas Teixeira in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorised removal, retention and transmission of classified national defence information,” said Attorney-General Merrick Garland.
According to an FBI statement, Teixeira was brought into custody “without incident at a residence in North Dighton, Massachusetts”.
“Since late last week, the FBI has aggressively pursued investigative leads, and today’s arrest exemplifies our continued commitment to identifying, pursuing, and holding accountable those who betray our country’s trust and put our national security at risk.”
Teixeira leaked the documents via Discord, a popular voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and messaging social platform used largely for gaming.
The FBI is working with Discord as part of its investigation into the incident and has interviewed other members of the Discord server that the documents were leaked in.
According to a report from The New York Times, Teixeira was in the intelligence wing of the national guard.
Following his arrest, Teixeira will make an appearance at the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
The information contained in the leaked documents, while not verified, shared a number of secrets that put the US and its allies in hot water, including a dark outlook on the conflict in Ukraine and the presence of Western special forces in Ukraine.
It also revealed US espionage tactics relating to the war, such as the monitoring of calls between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and military officials and the penetration of the Russian Wagner Group.
The leak suggested that over half of the Western special forces in Ukraine are from the UK, a claim that the UK military was quick to dismiss.
In response to the leak of alleged classified US information: pic.twitter.com/WWFLOhbeeU
— Ministry of Defence ?? (@DefenceHQ) April 11, 2023
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