US officials to arrest Air National guardsman linked to Pentagon classified documents leak
Rachel Schilke
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Federal law enforcement is expected to arrest a 21-year-old Air National guardsman on Thursday who they suspect is involved in the leak of hundreds of classified documents from the Pentagon.
Multiple reports have identified the leaker as Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, with his arrest to occur sometime later on Thursday in Massachusetts.
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The Pentagon is holding a press briefing at 2 p.m. on Thursday, which will likely provide updated developments on its investigation into the leak.
The documents were reportedly leaked sometime in February in an invite-only chat on Discord, a chat server, according to a Washington Post report. However, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he was made aware of the leaked documents on April 6 and convened military officials for daily updates since April 7.
A number of the Pentagon documents suggested that United States intelligence penetrated the highest levels of the Russian military, including information from the Russian Defense Ministry outlining attacks against two separate Ukrainian troop positions.
A Washington Post report indicated that the man who leaked the documents, known as “OG,” allegedly worked on a military base and brought home top secret documents. The group he shared the documents with was reportedly about 25 members, invite-only, and made up of both U.S. citizens and foreigners, created during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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President Joe Biden told reporters on Thursday morning that the administration was getting close to uncovering who had leaked the documents. Multiple outlets have since named Teixeira as the leaker. The Justice Department opened a formal criminal investigation into the incident last week, while the Pentagon continues to assess the damage that will come from the leak in documents.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Justice Department for confirmation on the identity of the leaker and the impending arrest. They declined to comment.