A 21-year-old member of the US Air National Guard has been apprehended in connection with a leak of classified military intelligence that has alarmed the United States and its allies.
The Espionage Act applies to Jack Teixeira, who purportedly shared the files in an online gaming chatroom.
Officers were arrested at Mr. Teixeira’s family residence in Dighton, Massachusetts, as captured by aerial footage.
The leaked documents revealed intelligence about the conflict in Ukraine and US espionage against allies.
Footage of the arrest in the 8,000-person town an hour south of Boston shows a young male, believed to be Mr. Teixeira, walking backward with his hands raised in the direction of armed FBI agents. He was restrained and escorted to a vehicle.
During the arrest, local roads were obstructed by police officers.
Dick Treacy, a local inhabitant, told the news agency Reuters that there were between six and eight soldiers carrying rifles. This is a very peaceful area.
Friday is anticipated to be Mr. Teixeira’s first court appearance in Boston.
He was a Massachusetts Air National Guard intelligence officer at Otis Air National Guard Base in western Cape Cod.
He is an Airman 1st Class and Cyber Transport Systems journeyman.
In a concise statement issued on Thursday, US Attorney General Merrick Garland reported that the suspect was apprehended without incident.
Mr. Garland provided no additional information regarding the investigation or the source of the disclosures.
At a separate news conference earlier in the day, Brigadier General Pat Ryder, spokesman for the Department of Defence, described the disclosure as a “deliberate criminal act.”
When asked how such a young airman had access to classified defense documents, General Ryder stated that personnel throughout the United States military are given “a great deal of responsibility at a very young age.
“Consider a young platoon sergeant in combat and the responsibility and trust we place in them to lead troops into combat,” he said.
Eddy Souza, a 22-year-old man who attended school with Mr. Teixeira, expressed astonishment to Reuters that his former classmate had been identified as a suspect in the leaks.
“He’s a good kid, not a troublemaker, just a quiet guy,” Mr. Souza explained. It sounds like a child made a stupid error.
What did the disclosures contain?
Gamer-friendly Discord posted at least fifty and maybe more than one hundred classified papers several months ago.
The documents contain vital intelligence on Ukraine’s conflict and other states.
The Pentagon official said it “understands the scope, scale, and impact of these leaks.”
In a statement, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Republican congressman Mike Turner, pledged to “examine why this occurred, why it went unnoticed for weeks, and how to prevent future leaks.”
The Washington Post published an interview with a member of the forum where the documents first appeared on Wednesday.
The leaker was a gregarious guns enthusiast in his early to mid-20s who worked at an unidentified military post.
The Post reported that the man was the administrator of a Discord chatroom whose roughly twenty members exchanged “memes, offensive jokes, and idle chitchat” as well as prayed and watched movies together.
According to the study, members came from Russia, Ukraine, and other European, Asian, and South American countries.
Members posted disclosures on Minecraft and Filipino YouTuber Discord servers in early March.
From there, they were posted on the extremist forum 4chan and the messaging application Telegram, particularly on pro-Russia channels. In some instances, they were altered to enhance the number of Ukrainian casualties.
The Air National Guard is the Air Force’s reserve.
CBS confirmed with White House officials that Vice President Joe Biden was briefed on Mr. Teixeira’s arrest in Ireland.
