The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Thursday arrested 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, an information technology specialist with the Massachusetts Air National Guard, for allegedly disclosing highly classified US military documents on social media, The New York Times reported.
The information leak took place on Discord – an online platform popular with video game enthusiasts – where Teixeira allegedly posted sensitive intelligence over several months. The details include those related to the extent of US surveillance in Russia, real-time updates of battlefield positions in the Ukraine war and sensitive disclosures about South Korea, Israel and the United Arab Emirates, according to the Associated Press reported.
The news agency also reported having seen nearly 50 documents that were leaked, but added that some estimates put the total number in the hundreds.
The leak of the documents is believed to be the most serious security breach since more than 7,00,000 official documents, videos and diplomatic cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010, according to Reuters.
On Thursday, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that Teixeira will undergo trial at the Federal District Court in Massachusetts on charges of “unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information” under the Espionage Act.
The arrest has raised questions on how Teixeira had access to highly classified information even as his rank in the Massachusetts Air National Guard does not typically have the necessary security clearance, The New York Times reported.
However, online acquaintances of Teixeira told the newspaper that he was not a whistleblower of wrongdoings or government policies, like Julian Assange or Edward Snowden.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden downplayed the impact of the revelations.
“I am concerned that it happened, but there is nothing contemporaneous that I am aware of that is of great consequence,” Biden told reporters, according to AP.
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