FBI Nabs Guardsman Behind Pentagon Intel Leak

A Massachusetts Air National Guard member was arrested Thursday (Friday, April 14, 2023, in Manila) in connection with the leak of classified documents about the Ukraine war and other national security issues.

Photo Insert: The guardsman, an IT specialist identified as 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, was taken into custody without incident after FBI officers converged on his Massachusetts home.

The breach has raised fresh questions about the US ability to safeguard its most sensitive secrets, Eric Tucker, Tara Copp and Michael Balsamo reported for the Associated Press (AP).

The guardsman, an IT specialist identified as 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, was taken into custody without incident after FBI officers converged on his Massachusetts home.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said he is to be charged with removing or transmitting classified national defense information, a crime under the Espionage Act.

Garland did not reveal a possible motive, but those in the online private chat group where the documents were dumped have depicted Teixeira as motivated more by bravado than ideology.

The emergence of Teixeira as a primary suspect is bound to raise questions about how such a profound breach, one that the Pentagon termed a “very serious risk to national security,” could have been caused by such a young, low-ranking service member.

Sky News and BBC said the leak was the worst since Edward Snowden dumped intelligence data on the web in 2013.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic