The Federal Bureau of Investigations arrested 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, a national air guardsman in Massachusetts, for allegedly leaking classified US defense documents revealing military secrets and damaging relations with key allies.
The FBI apprehended Teixeira at his North Dighton home, with news footage showing him being walked backward by a team of agents toward an armored vehicle. The US Attorney General, Merrick Garland, confirmed the arrest and said the 21-year-old had been arrested for suspicion of leaking classified documents.
Garland suggested that Teixeira could be charged under the Espionage Act, with each charge carrying a 10-year prison sentence, as prosecutors could treat every leaked document as a separate count.
Authorities believe Teixeira was the leader of “Thug Shaker Central,” an online chat group in which hundreds of photographs of classified documents were uploaded between December 2022 and March 2023. Former group members have told various news outlets that sharing top-secret documents was an apparent attempt to impress them rather than to influence foreign policy.
Teixeira joined the guard in 2019 and had the title of “cyber transport system journeyman.” He was a part of the 102nd Intelligence Wing of the Massachusetts air national guard. His duties involved keeping the internet working at airbases.
Over 350 of the leaked documents have been reviewed by various news outlets. However, many more documents were posted on Thug Shaker Central, indicating that the national security damage may be more extensive than currently understood.
President Biden played down the breach, saying he was not concerned about the leak but rather that it occurred. He said that there was no coexistent threat.
The leak raised questions about how a 21-year-old guardsman could have gained access to classified material vital to the United States and its allied security interests, including Ukraine’s battlefield deployments.
The Pentagon announced that its policies on safeguarding classified material were under review. It will also update its distribution lists and assess how intelligence is shared.
