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Suspect arrested in connection with leaks will appear in court at 10 a.m. ET
From CNN's Hannah Rabinowitz
Jack Teixeira, the suspect arrested in connection with the leaking of classified information, will make his first court appearance at 10 a.m. ET in front of Magistrate Judge David Hennessy in Boston, the clerk of the District Court in Massachusetts told CNN.
Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, is believed to be the leader of the group where a trove of classified documents had been posted, multiple US officials told CNN.
Discord says it is cooperating with officials after arrest of suspect who allegedly posted classified information
From CNN's Sean Lyngaas
Discord, the social platform where classified documents were first posted, said it is cooperating with the FBI investigation following the arrest of a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman in connection with the leaks.
Jack Teixeira, 21, is believed to be the leader of a Discord chat group where the documents were posted, multiple US officials told CNN.
The spokesperson said that Discord has banned users involved with distribution of the classified information, deleted content against its terms of service and issued warnings to those who continued to share the documents.
Leaked classified documents have left some allies and adversaries unsettled. Here's what we've learned
From CNN's Zachary Cohen, Natasha Bertrand and Kylie Atwood
Ukrainian servicemen fire at Russian positions in the Donbas region last month. (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images)CNN has reviewed 53 leaked Pentagon documents, all of which appear to have been produced between mid-February and early March, that contain a wide range of highly classified information.
Some of the documents, which US officials say are authentic, expose the extent of US eavesdropping on key allies, including South Korea, Israel and Ukraine.
On Russia and Wagner Group: Others reveal the degree to which the US has penetrated the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Russian mercenary organization Wagner Group, largely through intercepted communications and human sources, which could now be cut off or put in danger.
On Ukraine's military and Zelensky: Still, others divulge key weaknesses in Ukrainian weaponry, air defense, and battalion sizes and readiness at a critical point in the war, as Ukrainian forces gear up to launch a counteroffensive against the Russians – and just as the US and Ukraine have begun to develop a more mutually trusting relationship over intelligence-sharing.
One document reveals that the US has been spying on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. That is unsurprising, said a source close to Zelensky, but Ukrainian officials are deeply frustrated about the leak.
The US intelligence report, which is sourced to signals intelligence, says that Zelensky in late February “suggested striking Russian deployment locations in Russia’s Rostov Oblast” using unmanned aerial vehicles since Ukraine does not have long-range weapons capable of reaching that far.
Signals intelligence includes intercepted communications and is broadly defined by the National Security Agency as “intelligence derived from electronic signals and systems used by foreign targets, such as communications systems, radars, and weapons systems.”
On South Korean officials: Yet another document describes, in remarkable detail, a conversation between two senior South Korean national security officials about concerns by the country’s National Security Council over a US request for ammunition.
The officials worried that supplying the ammunition, which the US would then send to Ukraine, would violate South Korea’s policy of not supplying lethal aid to countries at war. According to the document, one of the officials then suggested a way of getting around the policy without actually changing it – by selling the ammunition to Poland.
Teixeira was a loner and fascinated by war and weapons, former classmates say
From CNN's Blake Ellis, Scott Glover, Jeff Winter and Melanie Hicken
Jack Teixeira is seen in this undated photograph. (from Instagram)The 21-year-old Massachusetts man arrested by the FBI Thursday in connection with the leaking of a trove of classified US government documents had a fascination with the military, guns and war, several former high school classmates told CNN.
Jack Teixeira would sometimes wear camouflage to school, carried a “dictionary-sized book on guns” and behaved in a way that made some students uneasy.
John Powell, who also attended middle school and high school with Teixeira, said he recalled him as a pleasant and quiet kid who was sometimes picked on. “He didn’t have many friends,” Powell said.
Teixeira grew up in the suburbs of Providence, Rhode Island, according to public records. He attended Dighton-Rehoboth High School in Massachusetts where he graduated in 2020, according to the superintendent of the regional school district.
Powell recalled Teixeira occasionally toting around a textbook on military vehicles — tanks, planes and submarines — and having a fascination with anything “military-related” from an early age.
“He was dead set on joining some branch of the military, even as a kid,” Powell said.
Other students, who asked not to be identified, said they detected a more menacing vibe from Texeira, who some recalled making comments they perceived as racist or mumbling derogatory things about people under his breath.
One student recalled him showing up for school wearing a shirt with an AR-15 on it the day after the mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017.
Teixeira didn’t behave in a manner that rose to the level where “people felt the need to report him,” another former classmate said, but “he made me nervous.”
The same student said she took his fascination with the military as a form of American nationalism and was therefore surprised by the allegations against him.
“I didn’t think he would be capable of doing something like this,” she said.
Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, is expected to make his initial appearance in US District Court in Boston on Friday.
Leaking of documents was a "deliberate criminal act," Pentagon spokesperson says
Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder briefs the media on Thursday. (Alex Brandon/AP)Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the leaking of a trove of classified information on social media sites was a "deliberate criminal act," and the department is looking at how it protects such information.
"We continue to review a variety of factors as it relates to safeguarding classified materials. This includes examining and updating distribution lists, assessing how and where intelligence products are shared and a variety of other steps. I would say, though, that it is it is important to understand that we do have stringent guidelines in place for safeguarding classified and sensitive information," Ryder told reporters Thursday.
"This was a deliberate criminal act, a violation of those guidelines," Ryder said.
When asked about the 21-year-old who was arrested Thursday in connection to the leaked documents, Ryder said he would not discuss the particular case, but said if someone requires a security clearance after joining the military, they go through "the proper vetting."
"We entrust our members with a lot of responsibility at a very early age," he said.
"So you've received training, and you will receive an understanding of the rules and requirements that come along with those responsibilities," Ryder added. "And you're expected to abide by those rules, regulations and responsibility; it's called military discipline."
Jack Teixeira expected to make first court appearance in Boston today
From CNN's Hannah Rabinowitz
The first court appearance for Jack Teixeira will be in Boston Friday, according to the US Attorney’s office. The exact timing of the appearance has not yet been announced.
Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was arrested in connection with the alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information on Thursday.
The arrest comes after a fast-moving search by the US government for the identity of the leaker who posted classified documents to a social media platform popular with video gamers.
Teixeira is believed to be the leader of the chat group where the documents were posted, multiple US officials told CNN.
A 21-year-old Air Force guardsman was arrested in connection to leaked documents. Here's what we know
From CNN staff
Jack Teixeira is taken in custody by authorities in Massachusetts on Thursday. (WHDH)Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was arrested in Massachusetts on Thursday in connection to a leak online of classified US intelligence.
The leaked documents appeared last month on the social media platform Discord, according to screenshots of the posts reviewed by CNN. Teixeira, 21, is believed to be the leader of a Discord chat group where the documents were posted, multiple US officials told CNN.
The documents included detailed intelligence assessments of allies and adversaries alike, including the state of the war in Ukraine.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Teixeira was arrested in connection with the alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information.
The Pentagon has begun to limit who across the government receives its highly classified daily intelligence briefs following the leak.
The arrest: The suspect was under surveillance for at least a couple of days prior to his arrest, according to a US government source familiar with the case. He was expected to go to work Thursday, where the FBI intended to take him into custody under more controlled circumstances, according to the source.
When the suspect did not go to work, agents who were already positioned outside his mother’s house waited for the suspect to come out, the source said. This search and arrest effort accelerated when reporters for The New York Times knocked on the house door and spoke to people inside.
Teixeira will first appear in court on Friday in Boston, according to the US attorney’s office there.
Here's what else we know about the suspect:
- Teixeira grew up in the suburbs of Providence, Rhode Island, according to public records. He attended Dighton-Rehoboth High School, where he graduated in 2020, the superintendent of the regional school district said.
- He entered the Air National Guard on September 26, 2019, according to the Defense Department.
- His official job is Cyber Transport Systems journeyman. According to the Air Force, Cyber Transport Systems specialists are tasked with making sure the service’s "vast, global communications network" is operating correctly.
- He was recently promoted to the rank of Airman 1st Class, which is the third enlisted rank an airman will make. According to his record, Teixeira had earned one Air Force Achievement Medal, which is a relatively standard medal for airmen of that age and rank to receive.
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