The US Department of Justice arrested 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, a suspect in the recent leaks of Pentagon intelligence online, US attorney general Merrick Garland announced on Thursday. The arrest was made “in connection with an investigation into an alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information,” said Garland.
Teixeira was detained at his home in the town of North Dighton, Massachusetts, by FBI agents. Helicopter news footage showed a young man with shorn dark hair, an olive green T-shirt and red shorts being made to walk backwards towards a team of agents, who were pointing their rifles at him. Teixeira will appear in court in Massachusetts on Friday.
Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder said the leak of classified information was a “deliberate, criminal act.” He added that the Pentagon had taken measures to review distribution lists and make sure that individuals who receive information had a need to know.
The leak is believed to have started on a site called Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games and where Teixeira is believed to have posted for years about guns, games and racist memes.
The investigative website Bellingcat and The New York Times first publicly identified 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 Teixeira.
Teixeira was a “cyber transport systems specialist”, essentially an IT specialist responsible for military communications networks, including their cabling and hubs. A defence official has told the Associated Press that in that role Teixeira would have had a higher level of security clearance – because he would have also been tasked with ensuring protection for the networks.
The likely charges, if proved, could each carry up to 10 years’ imprisonment, even if the leaker did not intend to cause harm, said Brandon Van Grack, a former Justice Department national security prosecutor. Prosecutors could treat each leaked document as a separate count in his indictment.
Among the clues that lead to Teixeira’s arrest were the kitchen countertop and floor tiles in his childhood home – the surfaces appeared in the background of pictures of the leaked documents.
Teixeira is believed to have been the leader of an online chat group where hundreds of photographs of secret and top-secret documents were first uploaded, from late last year to March. The online group called itself Thug Shaker Central, made up of 20 to 30 young men and teenagers brought together by an enthusiasm for guns, military gear and video games. Racist language was a common feature of the group.
Speaking in Ireland, Joe Biden sought to play down the impact of the breach. “I’m not concerned about the leak,” Biden said. “I’m concerned that it happened. But there’s nothing contemporaneous that I’m aware of that’s of great consequence.”
Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene sought to cast Teixeira as a right-wing hero, writing on Twitter, “Jake Teixeira is white, male, christian, and anti-war. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime.”
