The man US authorities detained this Thursday as part of the disclosure of classified US information is of Portuguese descent, CNN Portugal reported.
Jack Teixeira, 21, is a member of the Air National Guard and will be the administrator of the social networking group Discord, where the highly confidential documents, including information about the war in Ukraine, will have been published.
Jack Teixeira’s grandparents are from the Azores, according to the news channel, citing Francisco Viveiros, president of the House of the Azores in Fall River. The grandfather is from São Miguel and the youngster does not have dual citizenship.
The young man becomes the administrator of the chat group “Thug Shaker Central”, of the social network Discord, and is a member of the intelligence service of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.
In a statement, the FBI announced it had made an arrest in connection with its investigation into the leak of classified documents, indicating that an “authorized law enforcement” raided a home in North Dighton, Massachusetts.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the arrest was “without incident” and that Jack Teixeira will face charges in Massachusetts Federal Court later this Thursday, The New York Times reports.
Teixeira was being held for possible participation in the “diversion, retention and unauthorized disclosure of classified national defense information,” Garland said, surrounded by senior Justice Department and FBI officials in Washington.
Armed FBI agents drove to the young man’s home in Massachusetts today and heavily armed officers took into custody a man wearing a T-shirt and shorts, the AP said.
First video of Pentagon secret document filter Jack Teixeira being held by the FBI. pic.twitter.com/qwaYee3zKR
– Military Force (@PoderioMilitar) April 13, 2023
The police have closed the street near the house where the young man lives.
According to the American newspaper, the information leak, including documents related to the war in Ukraine, is believed to have come from a Discord user nicknamed “OG”, a gun enthusiast who works at a US military base.
The social networking group, called Thug Shaker Central, where the classified documents were published, is made up of some 20 to 30 people, mostly teenagers, who share a passion for guns, racist memes and video games, the paper writes.
Social network Discord cooperates with authorities
A “digital evidence trail” led the investigation into Jack Teixeira, who has not been officially identified as a suspect.
Discord hosts real-time voice, video, and text chat for groups and describes itself as a site “where you can be a member of a school club, a gaming group, or a global arts community.”
In one of these forums – originally created to address various issues – members were discussing the war in Ukraine, when an unnamed member, whom some members of the group referred to as “OG”, shared documents he claimed were classified .
These documents would eventually be recognized as Pentagon classified information.
In most of the photos of declassified documents, the photos are of paper copies that appear to have been folded in four – as if they had been put in a bag and then scanned, which could serve as a clue to the investigation.
Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, spokesman for the Pentagon, said at a press conference Thursday that the leaking of classified documents from the US intelligence community it was “an intentional criminal act”.
A Discord spokesperson told AFP that user safety is a priority and content that violates company policies could result in people being banned from the social network, shutting down servers and alerting the police.
“With regard to the apparent violation of classified materials, we are cooperating with authorities,” a Discord spokesperson said. “As this remains an active investigation, we are unable to comment further at this time,” he added.
Source: DN
