Jack Teixeira, 21, talked about God, guns are war secrets in chat rooms, friends say. The files show U.S. spying on allies, foes, shaking capitals from Kyiv to Seoul to Washington.
The suspect was relatively easy to find.
In a social media world that produces traceable digital fingerprints, it didn’t take long for federal authorities and journalists adept at sifting through data to land on the name of Jack Teixeira.
Teixeira, 21, who served in the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was arrested Thursday in connection with the far-reaching leak of classified documents that have shaken capitals from Washington to Kyiv to Seoul with revelations of U.S. spying on allies and foes alike and the disclosure of sensitive military intelligence about the war in Ukraine.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Teixeira would be charged with the unauthorized removal of classified national defense information.
There were clues in messages posted in a chatroom on Discord, a social media platform where Teixeira is believed to have posted for years about guns, games and his favorite memes — and, according to some others chatting with him, closely guarded U.S. secrets.
The investigative website Bellingcat and The New York Times first publicly identified Teixeira, minutes before federal officials confirmed he was a subject of interest in the investigation. They reported tracking profiles on other more obscure sites linked to Teixeira.
The suspect, as part of his duties, reportedly had access to highly classified information.
The case underscores the challenges the U.S. and other governments have in keeping secrets in an era of omnipresent data and an ever growing army of savvy users who know how to exploit it.
When asked how such a young service member could have had access to highly sensitive documents, the Pentagon spokesman, Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, said it was the nature of the military to trust its very young service members with high and sometimes grave levels of responsibility, including high levels of security clearance.
