American authorities are facing serious questions about the security of highly classified military documents after the arrest of a 21-year-old gamer in one of the worst leaks in years.
The Pentagon has vowed to tighten security measures after the dramatic arrest of IT specialist Jack Teixeira on Thursday (US time).
Mr Teixeira was taken into custody without incident after FBI officers converged on his Massachusetts home.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said he would be charged under an Espionage Act provision that makes it a crime to remove or transmit classified national defence information.
While Thursday’s arrest was a pivotal moment in an investigation into the highest-profile intelligence leak in years, the military and Justice Department were still scrutinising how sensitive government secrets shared in a chat room ended up circulating around the world.
The FBI confirmed Mr Teizeira’s arrest outside the town of North Dighton, as well as an ongoing search of his home.
“The FBI is continuing to conduct authorised law enforcement activity at the residence,” it said.
“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.”
But the emergence of Mr Teixeira as a primary suspect has already raised questions about how a breach that the Pentagon termed a “very serious risk to national security”, could have been caused by such a young, low-ranking service member.
Mr Teixeira was a “cyber transport systems specialist” – essentially an IT specialist responsible for military communications networks, including their cabling and hubs. In that role he would have had a higher level of security clearance because he would have also been tasked with responsibility for ensuring protection for the networks, a defence official told the Associated Press.
Hours after the arrest, Republican Mike Turner, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, issued a statement pledging to “examine why this happened, why it went unnoticed for weeks, and how to prevent future leaks”.
Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Ryder would not comment on the arrest, although he said the leak of classified information “was a deliberate criminal act.”
He said there were strict rules to ensure classified material was not leaked, and that distribution lists assessing how and where intelligence products are shared had been reviewed.
“We do have stringent guidelines in place for safeguarding classified and sensitive information. This was a deliberate, criminal act, a violation of those guidelines,” he said.
Mr Teixeira, who was wearing a T-shirt and shorts when heavily armed tactical agents took him into custody, will have his initial court appearance in Massachusetts on Friday.
The Biden administration has scrambled to contain the potential diplomatic and military fallout from the leaks since they were first reported last week, moving to assure allies and assess the scope of damage.
President Joe Biden downplayed the lasting impact of the revelations, saying in Ireland earlier on Thursday that “there’s nothing contemporaneous that I’m aware of that is of great consequence”.
The classified documents – which have not been individually authenticated by US officials – range from briefing slides mapping out Ukrainian military positions to assessments of international support for Ukraine and other sensitive topics, including under what circumstances Russian President Vladimir Putin might use nuclear weapons.
The leak is believed to have started on a site called Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games. Mr Teixeira is believed to have posted there for years about guns, games and his favourite memes – and, according to some chatting with him, closely guarded US secrets.
The investigative website Bellingcat and The New York Times first publicly identified Mr Teixeira, minutes before federal officials confirmed he was a subject of interest in the investigation. They reported tracking profiles on other more obscure sites linked to Mr Teixeira.
One of them, a chat group called Thug Shaker Central, drew roughly two dozen enthusiasts who talked about their favourite types of guns and also shared memes and jokes, some of them racist. The group also held a running discussion on wars that included talk of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In that discussion, Mr Teixera, identified as the “O.G.” would post material that he said was classified – originally typing it out with his own notations, then a few months ago switching to posting images of folded-up papers.
Discord has said it was cooperating with law enforcement.
-with AAP
