Who is Jack Teixeira, Reportedly the First Suspect in Pentagon Documents Leak
The leak revealed unease over the viability of counteroffensive by Kyiv's forces against Russian troops as well as concerns about Ukrainian air defenses
The investigation into the leak of a cache of sensitive US documents is “getting close," President Joe Biden said Thursday, as US media honed in on a young national guardsman as the possible source of the security breach.
The leak revealed unease over the viability of a coming counteroffensive by Kyiv’s forces against Russian troops as well as concerns about Ukrainian air defenses, and pointed to US spying on allies.
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“There’s a full-blown investigation going on, as you know, with the intelligence community and the Justice Department, and they’re getting close," Biden said during a visit to Ireland.
The president’s remarks came after The Washington Post reported that hundreds of pages of documents had been posted in a group called Thug Shaker Central on social media platform Discord by a man who worked on a US military base.
The New York Times said it had identified a “trail of digital evidence" leading to a young air national guardsman as both the leader of the group and the leaker, although they made clear he has not been officially identified as a suspect.
The newspaper identified him as Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.
The Wall Street Journal also pointed the finger at an air national guardsman, and said an arrest could take place as early as Thursday.
The reports said the alleged leaker, who went by the nickname “OG," regularly posted documents in the group for months.
The group of around 24, including people from Russia and Ukraine, bonded over their “mutual love of guns, military gear and God," and formed an “invitation-only clubhouse in 2020 on Discord," the Post — which like the Times cited unidentified members of Thug Shaker Central — reported.
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