Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old Boston resident, was taken into custody on Thursday. He is being charged with leaking “classified national defense information.” On Thursday, FBI investigators visited the house of North Dighton, Massachusetts resident Jack Douglas Teixeira.
He was questioned because of his role in the release of classified material and because he is a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard. According to a statement released by Attorney General Merrick Garland, Teixeira, 21, is being looked into for “alleged unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information.” According to a message obtained by Fox News from the Department of Defense, Teixeira, who enlisted in the Air National Guard in September 2019, has top secret clearance.
Then, he apparently lost his security clearance and access to private government networks, as revealed in another classified government document. Prior to his current post, Teixeira served at Otis Air National Guard Base. His unit is the 102nd Intelligence Wing, where he serves. He was promoted to the rank of Airman First Class in July, as evidenced by official documents.
According to Fox News, a source familiar with the investigation said that the FBI had been keeping a watch on Teixeira before to Thursday due to the leaks, but that they were forced to move quickly to make an arrest when he was identified by The New York Times on Thursday morning. The New York Times reports that Teixeira was the head of a gang of twenty to thirty young men who went by the name “Thug Shaker Central” on the messaging app Discord. The story goes that Teixeira started feeding the private group classified material a few months ago. But it wasn’t until another member of the gang posted them online that the leaks became widely known. Detectives are reportedly looking into whether or not Teixeira is the lone suspect, as reported by Fox News.
The National Guard released a statement saying “an Air National Guardsman from Massachusetts may have been involved in the recent leak of highly classified documents” from the Pentagon. According to a statement released by the National Guard, “the National Guard takes this issue very seriously and will help investigators.” The faith of our members, the public, our friends, and our business partners is eroded whenever there is a danger to national security. Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon’s press secretary, has dubbed the disclosures “a deliberate criminal act,” and investigators have begun reviewing the leakers’ distribution lists for sensitive documents.
On Thursday, Ryder remarked at a press conference, “We give our members a lot of responsibility at a very young age.” You’ve finished your training, and now you’ll learn the specifics of your new profession. And it is anticipated that you would adhere to them. The military refers to this as “order.” The legislation becomes relevant when dealing with sensitive data, for example. Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks warned Pentagon staff on Tuesday not to disclose classified information or get sensitive documents from unclassified sources.
Hicks said in a letter obtained by Fox News that the material may be classified, associated with hostile foreign parties, and/or include harmful code or covert capabilities that might allow cyber threats to enter our information system. Hicks warned against using unclassified websites from work or home to download or view confidential data. To prevent a repeat of this sort of security lapse, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin demanded a review of “intelligence access, accountability, and control procedures” on Thursday. South of Boston, about 35 miles, is the quaint community of North Dighton. Teixeira’s normally peaceful neighborhood in North Dighton was swarming with law enforcement on Thursday.
A nearby resident told Fox News Digital on Thursday, “It’s crazy to see all this going on here because this is where I live.” Teixeira, the son of the parents I don’t know, is friends with my kid, therefore I know him. They traveled together via [school] bus. As a parent, I feel terrible for them since they’ve had to deal with this for so long. The Pentagon documents were described as “sensitive and highly-classified material,” and the FBI is “getting close” to solving the case of their theft. On Thursday morning, Vice President Biden made this statement.
I’m at a loss for words right now. Vice President Joe Biden told reporters in Ireland, “The intelligence community and the Justice Department are conducting a full-scale investigation, and they are getting close to a conclusion.” The best I can say is, “I don’t know how to explain it.”It’s unsettling that it occurred, but I haven’t heard anything else recently that warrants serious concern. Information regarding Chinese leaders, the Middle East, the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine make up the bulk of the stolen data, but other topics are also covered.
U.S. defense sources had warned Fox News that this leak may be “bigger than Snowden” in terms of the harm it could cause to information and relationships with allies before it was discovered. According to a source from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Teixeira’s first court appearance is scheduled for Friday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.