{"id":267661,"date":"2023-04-14T07:09:50","date_gmt":"2023-04-14T07:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=267661"},"modified":"2023-04-14T17:28:11","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T17:28:11","slug":"pentagon-leaks-armed-fbi-agents-arrest-air-national-guardsman-over-deliberate-criminal-leaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=267661","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon leaks: Armed FBI agents arrest Air National Guardsman over \u2018deliberate criminal\u2019 leaks"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Graeme Massie \u2013 The Independent April 14, 2023<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Armed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/fbi\">FBI<\/a> officers arrested a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard over the alleged leak of classified military intelligence online.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities raided the Massachusetts home of 21-year-old <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/jack-teixeira\">Jack Teixeira<\/a>, who worked in cyber security for the Guard and took him into custody without incident on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of pages of classified military intelligence have been shared with an online gaming group before becoming public in an embarrassing string of disclosures last week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe 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,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/leaked-documents-pentagon-justice-department-russia-war-d3272b34702d564fe07a480598bcd174?utm_source=homepage&amp;utm_medium=TopNews&amp;utm_campaign=position_01\">the National Guard said in a statement.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Following the arrest, the Air Force released the suspect\u2019s service file. It shows that he has been an enlisted airman for the Massachusetts Air National Guard since joining it in September 2019.<\/p>\n<p>The suspect\u2019s official job title is Cyber Transport Systems Journeyman. The Air Force says that the job of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforce.com\/careers\/intelligence\/cyber-transport-systems\">Cyber Transport Systems specialists <\/a>is to ensure that the service\u2019s \u201cvast, global communications network\u201d works properly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhether it\u2019s repairing a network hub at a stateside base or installing fibre-optic cable at a forward installation overseas, these experts keep our communications systems up and running and play an integral role in our continuing success,\u201d the Air Force states on its website.<\/p>\n<p>The suspect had also earned one Air Force Achievement Medal.<\/p>\n<p>Video played on CNN appeared to show the suspect, who was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, being taken into custody by the FBI.<\/p>\n<p>Following the arrest, Attorney General <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/merrick-garland\">Merrick Garland<\/a> appeared at the DOJ to confirm that the suspect, Jack Teixeria, worked for the Air National Guard and had been taken into custody \u201cwithout incident.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Video here appearing to show Teixeira being taken into custody by the FBI: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0yq6hgimnD\">pic.twitter.com\/0yq6hgimnD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NatashaBertrand\/status\/1646582489874399232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 13, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Mr Garland said that the suspect was being investigated for the alleged \u201cunauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defence information\u201d and that he would make his first court appearance at the US District Court for Massachusetts.<\/p>\n<p>The suspect will make his first court appearance in Boston on Friday, according to the US Attorney\u2019s office in Massachusetts. Mr Garland did not take any questions on the case or the arrest.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/pentagon\">Pentagon<\/a> spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder called the leak of classified information a \u201cdeliberate, criminal act.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe continue to review a variety of factors as it relates to safeguarding classified materials. This includes examining and updating distribution lists, assessing how and where intelligence products are shared and a variety of other steps. I would say, though, that it is it is important to understand that we do have stringent guidelines in place for safeguarding classified and sensitive information,\u201d General Ryder said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd so, again, I think that\u2019s important to understand that we will continue to do everything we can to ensure that the people who have a need to know, when it comes to this kind of information, have access to that. We\u2019re always going to learn from every situation. But again, this is something that will continue to look at,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>And he said that the suspect had been through \u201cproper vetting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe entrust our members with a lot of responsibility at a very early age,\u201d he said. \u201cSo you\u2019ve received training, and you will receive an understanding of the rules and requirements that come along with those responsibilities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd you\u2019re expected to abide by those rules, regulations and responsibility; it\u2019s called military discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/joe-biden\">Joe Biden<\/a> told reporters in Dublin, Ireland, that the US government was closing in on the leaker.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a full-blown investigation going on, as you know,\u201d Mr Biden said. \u201cThe intelligence community and the Justice Department. And they\u2019re getting close. I don\u2019t have an answer for you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Washington Post <\/em>reported on Wednesday that the leaker had shared documents with a group of friends on the popular gaming platform Discord.<\/p>\n<p>A Facebook post last July from the 102nd Intelligence Wing, which is based at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod, congratulated someone by the name of Jack Teixeira for promotion to airman first class.<\/p>\n<p>A Discord spokesperson told CNN on Sunday that the company is cooperating with law enforcement on the investigation.<\/p>\n<p>The so-called \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/pentagon\">Pentagon<\/a> Papers\u201d, widely shared and leaving many in Washington ashen-faced with embarrassment, have yet to be officially authenticated but appear to contain details on deeply sensitive matters pertaining to national security and foreign affairs.<\/p>\n<p>The slides of photographed files that were made public include detailed battlefield maps from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/russia\">Russia<\/a>\u2019s war in Ukraine and the alarming suggestion that the US believes Kyiv will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/europe\/ukraine-air-defence-leaked-documents-b2317236.html\">soon run out of missiles for its air defence systems<\/a>, in addition to awkward revelations about America\u2019s attitude towards many of its allies around the world, including the UK, South Korea, Egypt, Israel and the UAE.<\/p>\n<p>Precisely how many documents were leaked is not known, with estimates varying from 50 into the hundreds.<\/p>\n<p>It is believed that a member of that community, known only as \u201cLucca\u201d, began posting several dozen images of the documents to another Discord server affiliated with the YouTuber wow_mao on 28 February.<\/p>\n<p>From here, they were seemingly posted to a Minecraft Earth Map forum on 4 March, before gradually making their way to the messaging platform <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/4chan\">4chan<\/a> and to Russian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/telegram\">Telegram<\/a> channels such as Donbas Devushka, before finally ending up on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/topic\/twitter\">Twitter<\/a> by 5 April.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can sort of understand how sharing big, private, military secrets could be a funny thing to do among your internet friends. But c\u2019mon, take care of yourself and stay away from doing stuff like this,\u201d wow_mao himself <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/pentagon-document-leak-discord-wowmoa-b2318569.html\">said in a YouTube video<\/a> on Monday.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/pentagon-secrets-leaker-jack-teixeira-b2319395.html\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Does the arrest confirm that the leaks were authentic and not part of an online disinformation campaign? Right now we reserve judgement as other reports are coming in that seem to suggest otherwise <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":267663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Current_Affairs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=267661"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":267670,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267661\/revisions\/267670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/267663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=267661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=267661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=267661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}