Officials have arrested a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard believed to be behind a massive leak of classified intelligence documents last week, the feds announced Thursday.
Attorney General Merrick Garland identified the suspected leaker as Jack Teixeira, who works in the intelligence wing of the National Guard and is also the leader of a chat group where the documents—predominantly about the war between Ukraine and Russia—first surfaced a week ago, according to a New York Times report.
NBC News, citing officials, said the feds have “been onto him for some time.”
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Federal agents—armed with rifles—raided a home in North Nighton, Massachusetts, on Thursday afternoon to make the arrest. Garland said Teixeira was taken into custody “without incident” in connection with the “unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information,” and will be arraigned Thursday afternoon in federal district court in Massachusetts.
Garland suggested Teixeira’s charges stem from violations of the Espionage Act, enacted in 1917 at the onset of the U.S. joining World War I. Teixeira could face a seperate charge for each document leaked, with a conviction carrying a prison sentence of up to 10 years per count.
Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, speaking at a press conference to announce the arrest Thursday, called the leak a “a deliberate criminal act.”
Multiple reports have pinned Teixeira as the leader of the chat group Thug Shaker Central—a Discord channel of about “20 to 30” young men and teens that frequently discusses guns, racist memes and video games, The New York Times reported.
The Washington Post, citing group members, identified Thug Shaker Central’s administrator as the person responsible for the leak, which exposed the grim prospects for Ukraine’s war with Russia and sparked panic inside the White House.
“He’s a smart person. He knew what he was doing when he posted these documents, of course. These weren’t accidental leaks of any kind,” one member told the Post.
Members told the Post that Teixeira first shared leaked info by typing out information and posting the text in the channel. When that didn’t engage his followers enough, a member said he resorted to posting hundreds of screenshots of the classified docs, which drew more attention.
The docs reportedly had information so sensitive, those authorized to view it would typically have to undergo a months-long background check.
Members told the Post the leaked documents included a screenshot of battlefield conditions in Ukraine and highly-classified satellite images of the aftermath of Russian missile strikes.
The leak wasn’t limited to Ukraine, however. It also included a sketch of the potential trajectory of North Korean ballistic nuclear missiles that could reach the United States, and photos of the Chinese spy balloon that floated across the U.S. in February.
It also included “top-secret” reports about the whereabouts of high-ranking political leaders, foreign countries’ shady election practices and tactical updates on military forces, the members said.
“If you could think it, it was in those documents,” a member told the Post.
The discord channel was a “tight-knit family” and members “depended on each other,” a group member told the Post. That reportedly included Teixeira helping members—some younger than 18—as they battled with depression, anxiety and more.
The 102nd Intelligence Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, the Department of Defense, and the FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Daily Beast.
The Post reported that Teixeira was able to obtain the classified documents because he was a technology support staffer at a military base in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. His mom confirmed to the Times that he’d been working overnight shifts at the base and had recently changed his phone number.
The leaked docs were reportedly chock full of sensitive details about the government’s support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia, which included an analysis of Ukraine’s air defenses and that of other countries, like South Korea.
“Photos appear to show documents similar in format to those used to provide daily updates to our senior leaders on Ukraine and Russia related operations, as well as other intelligence updates,” Chris Meagher, assistant to the defense secretary for public affairs, told reporters on Monday.
Members of Teixeira’s group told the Times the document leak was never supposed to leave their tiny sliver of the internet—saying the classified material only went viral after a teenage member of the group posted info to a public forum, which quickly grabbed the attention of Russian-language Telegram channels.
“This guy was a Christian, antiwar, just wanted to inform some of his friends about what’s going on,” a member told the Times, referencing Teixeira.
News of an imminent arrest came just hours after President Joe Biden said in Dublin, Ireland, that investigators were “getting close” to finding the alleged leaker.
“There’s a full-blown investigation going on as you know, with the Intelligence Committee and the Justice Department, and they’re getting close,” Biden said Thursday.
The White House did not immediately release a statement Thursday about Teixeira being identified.
