The FBI today arrested an Air National Guard member in connection with the large online dump of highly classified information that included sensitive intelligence about U.S. allies including Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion.
The documents were initially posted within a private chat room on the social media site Discord but eventually spread to other Discord servers, 4chan, Telegram, and Twitter.
“Today, the FBI took 21-year-old Jack Douglas Teixeira into custody without incident at a residence in North Dighton, Massachusetts, for his alleged involvement in leaking classified U.S. government and military documents,” the FBI said in a statement. “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.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland, joined by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate, announced that Teixeira was taken into custody “in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information.”
“Teixeira is an employee of the United States Air Force National Guard,” Garland added.
Teixeira was scheduled to have an initial appearance this afternoon at the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
“I want to thank the FBI, Justice Department prosecutors, and our colleagues at the Department of Defense for their diligent work on this case,” Garland said. “This investigation is ongoing. We will share more information at the appropriate time.”
Bellingcat, which spoke with members of the Discord server, said that an administrator posted the documents. “The name of the Thug Shaker server frequently changed, sometimes to that of a racial slur, and had around 20 active users making up a tight-knit community, members said. Posts and channel listings show that the server’s users were interested in video games, music, Orthodox Christianity, and fandom for the popular YouTuber ‘Oxide,'” Bellingcat reported. “This server was not especially geopolitical in nature, although its users had a staunchly conservative stance on several issues, members told Bellingcat. Racial slurs and racist memes were shared widely.”
