God, guns and war secrets: New details emerge as FBI nabs Pentagon leak suspect

US government agencies have been left red-faced after a national guardsman was arrested for leaking Pentagon documents. The 21-year-old was arrested by a team of heavily-armed FBI agents on Friday before being produced in court. While his motives remain unclear, new details have emerged about how the biggest data breach in 10 years. 

US officials are still assessing the damage done by the leaks, which included records showing purported details of Ukrainian military vulnerabilities and embarrassed Washington by revealing its spying on allies.

Who is Jack Teixeira?

Teixeira served with the Air National Guard in Massachusetts and was part of the team that reports to the governor of their respective state or territory. He had worked as a "Cyber Transport Systems Journeyman" - an IT specialist - and was an Airman 1st class based out of Otis Air National Guard Base.

An affidavit released on Friday, Teixeira not only had a "top secret" security clearance but also he maintained "sensitive compartmented access (SCI)" since 2021, giving him broad access to highly classified information.

How was he discovered by the FBI?

Discord billing records obtained by the FBI had reportedly helped lead investigators to Teixeira. He has been charged with unlawfully copying and transmitting classified defense records. President Joe Biden said the government was working to determine “the validity” of the leaked documents.

The FBI's hunt for Teixeira was also aided by his search for the word “leak” in a classified system on April 6 – the day The New York Times first published a story about the breach of documents.

What happened on the discord server?

It’s still not known how he allegedly obtained the documents, or what safeguards had been in place.

As per the affidavit, Teixeira had started posting classified information on social media around December 2022. He shared the documents with a group of youths, conversing on a guns-and-ammo-focused server on Discord. At one point the private server was at one point known as "Thug Shaker Central.” 

According to a Washington Post report citing two members of the server, the chatroom had been a venue for dark humor and outrageous comments.  The group also held a running discussion on wars that included talk of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. An individual who spoke to AP also said that Teixeira — was an observant Christian who often spoke of God and prayed with members of the chat group.

In that discussion, “the O.G.” would for months post material that he said was classified — originally typing it out with his own notations, then a few months ago switching to posting images of folded-up papers because he felt his writings weren't being taken seriously, the person said.

A different participant in the group shared some of the files several weeks ago in a different chat group — and from there they appear to have spread across the Internet.

(With inputs from agencies)