Pentagon super-leak suspect cuffed: 21-year-old Air National Guardsman
- Reference: 1681415548
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/04/13/alleged_pentagon_leaker_arrested/
- Source link:
In the past few minutes, US Attorney General Merrick Garland [1]confirmed the arrest, saying Jack Douglas Teixeira of the United States Air Force National Guard in Massachusetts was nabbed earlier today.
The suspect was being held "in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information," the AG said.
[2]
The Washington Post reported yesterday that whoever leaked the files was thought to be a twenty-something American who [3]liked gaming and guns , and worked on a military base. He also controlled a private Discord server, and allegedly posted photographs of the classified Pentagon documents to impress the private group's 25 members, which included netizens in Europe, Asia, and South America.
[4]
[5]
It's believed those classified files were shared beyond that Discord chat, and [6]surfaced in one form or another on social media, where it spread like wildfire. The documents were said to be war plans detailing secret US and NATO support for a Ukrainian offensive to regain land invaded by Russia, and that American and British special forces were already in Ukraine.
During a Pentagon briefing on Thursday, Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder declined to comment on the FBI's criminal investigation.
[7]
"We are aware of the press reports regarding a potential suspect in the Department of Justice's ongoing investigation into unauthorized disclosures of documents appearing to emanate from throughout the intelligence community," Ryder said. He referred questions to the US Department of Justice, which declined to comment further.
Ryder did add that the Pentagon has "stringent guidelines in place for safeguarding classified and sensitive information," and that the US Department of Defense has since tightened those guidelines to prevent additional leaks.
"This was a deliberate criminal act, a violation of those guidelines," Ryder said. That is to say, in Uncle Sam's mind, this matter won't be an argument over whether or not it was an act of whistleblowing.
[8]Leaked IT contractor files detail Kremlin's stockpile of cyber-weapons
[9]As Russia wages disinfo war, Ukraine's cyber chief calls for global anti-fake news fight
[10]FBI: How fake Xi cops prey on Chinese nationals in the US
US President Joe Biden addressed the leak earlier in the day from Dublin, where he was meeting the Irish president, and said his federal agents were "close" to making an arrest.
Biden, when asked if he was concerned about the alleged military plans being posted on social media last week, [11]said : "I'm not concerned about the leak. I'm concerned that it happened, but there's nothing contemporaneous that I'm aware of that is of any consequence."
[12]
Since the sensitive documents surfaced on social media, military and security analysts have questioned their legitimacy. If the files really did come from some Discord chat, filtering through 4chan and Telegram and into wider public view, it appears someone along the way [13]modified the documents to, among other things, overstate supposed American estimates of Ukrainians killed, and understating Russian deaths. The files may have been altered by pro-Kremlin volunteers if not Russian agents themselves.
"I do believe it is an example of hybrid warfare meant to shake the faith of the Ukrainian population," Tom Kellermann told The Register in an [14]earlier interview . Kellermann is senior veep of cyber strategy at Contrast Security, and he has also held cybersecurity-related posts in the US government. ®
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[1] https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-merrick-b-garland-delivers-statement-classified-national-defense
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZDh7gdezsVQamdKCJ1ApFgAAAMs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/04/12/discord-leaked-documents/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZDh7gdezsVQamdKCJ1ApFgAAAMs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZDh7gdezsVQamdKCJ1ApFgAAAMs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/07/us_military_plans_leak/
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZDh7gdezsVQamdKCJ1ApFgAAAMs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/31/vulkan_files_russia/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/22/ukraine_cybersecurity_chief_mwise/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/12/crooks_prey_us_chinese/
[11] https://twitter.com/Spriter99880/status/1646536015413387266
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_security/cybercrime&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZDh7gdezsVQamdKCJ1ApFgAAAMs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/06/us/politics/ukraine-war-plan-russia.html
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/07/us_military_plans_leak/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
In my experience the folks in command want their 7am morning briefings, and they sure as hell are not writing or presenting them.
"This was a deliberate criminal act, a violation of those guidelines," Ryder said. That is to say, in Uncle Sam's eyes, this wasn't a whistleblowing act."
Like that makes a smidge of difference to the US Government. If anything, whistleblowing gets you stiffer sentences.
Government commits crime. Government classifies the info related to the crime. Whistleblower release info to highlight criminal behavior and is jailed for 30 years under Espionage / Official Secrets Act.
I really don't know any government that is pro this, unless it is deliberate. I have heard rumors (from several decades ago) that someone lost a lot of classified docs, which were subsequently found, forcing a government backpedal. The individual concerned was reprimanded, but promoted the year afterwards, no doubt having done their "duty" by their branch.
makes a smidge of difference
Yeah, OK, did wonder if someone would point that out. We included it in the piece to show that right off the bat, the prosecution is treating this as a straight up leak, and this isn't (from their POV) going to be an argument over whistleblowing.
C.
Re: makes a smidge of difference
So what's the problem?
Didn't he store them in an approved swimming pool closet
Re: makes a smidge of difference
if they were properly "Filed".. the documents would be signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters...
This young fellow is a hack..
( And in deep doo doo )
If hes
guilty, then hes looking at a dishonourable discharge(and no amount of dressings will cure that) followed by a nice warm 25 year vacation.
Plus being used as an example in government staff briefing of what not to do. ie try and impress people in an on-line forum.
Also winner of this years "Being 'ing stupid' award
Why would he have access to any of that stuff?
Someone in the Air National Guard has no reason to access that stuff. That's what's wrong with a system where something that's "Top Secret" can it seems be accessed by anyone with that clearance, without any random audits to look at who is accessing what to put some fear into people and keep them from accessing stuff they don't have a legitimate reason to see.
IF (big 'if') these really are highly classified documents, one has to ask why such a junior person even had access to them. 9/11 led to accusations that the various elements of US intelligence operations failed to 'join the dots', and as a result many of the partitions between secure data were removed. This was one of the factors that allowed Manning (an equally junior operative) to access and copy so much classified information.