US guardsman Jack Teixeira on Thursday was arrested for the suspected leaks of highly classified military related documents on the chat room of the social media platform Discord.
In this leak, it is said that information relating to the Ukrainian war and the other National Defense related documents were leaked. The actual details of the data leaks were not revealed , by the Department of US Defence.
It is estimated that nearly 50 documents have been leaked via the social media platform which is now revolving around the world.
Who is Jack Teixiera? What did he do?
Jack Teixeira is a 21 year old first class Massachusetts US Air National Guard. He is an IT specialist in the Air National Guard. As a “cyber transport systems specialist” , he is responsible for maintaining the military communications network.
The guardsman is tasked with ensuring a secured communications network which provides him with the higher stage of security clearance allowing him the access to handle highly classified information.
Supposedly, the Air National Guard, chats with his online friends in the Discord platform which is started as a hangout place for the gamers. In this platform, Jack illegally talked and shared military classified information.
In this geopolitical group, they have talked about the Russia – Ukraine war and some were also racists.
At first, Jack Teixeira used to type highly classified information in the chat group. It is said that the others in the group did not believe the data and later he started releasing the military related documents to prove the truth of his information.
Leaked Documents on Discord
FBI said that starting in December 2022, Jack typed and sent the sensitive information in the group. Then in January 2024 he released the photocopy of the classified documents. For some time, the documents were accessed only by the people in the group.
They say that the group initially accommodated only US Citizens. Later, people from Ukraine, Russia and many others were also joined.
The controversial chat room Thug Shaker Central was deleted by Jack Teixeira after the leaked documents started to go rounds in the internet. The documents were reshared on various platforms like twitter, telegram and discord.
These screenshots of the documents containing sensitive information on the NATO countries, US allies, Ukrainian war status, and such information began vanishing from the social media platforms. The posts were either deleted or the account was entirely closed by the user who posted them previously.
DOD’s Response to the Pentagon leak
The Department of US Defense (DOD) in response calls the data leak as ‘a Criminal Act’. The Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder said that the US government is taking the matter very seriously and partnered with the intelligence communities to have a better understanding on the “extent, scope and impact of the leaks”.
He further told the Press that the leaked classified information will remain as classified information. It will not be declassified just because it is shared online or otherwise. He said, “the classified information will not be confirmed or discussed with public as it is a matter of national security and security of allied and partner nations”.
Jack Teixeira was arrested by the FBI on Thursday for the Pentagon leaks under the espionage charges and it is said that he will be tried under military charges as well.
