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Jack Teixeira, 21, might have leaked sensitive intelligence much earlier than previously thought.
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The New York Times found posts sharing secret intelligence less than 48 hours after Russia invaded Ukraine.
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The National Guardsman has been charged in connection with the leaks of top secret military documents.
The 21-year-old Air National Guardsman charged in connection with the leak of dozens of secret Pentagon documents appears to have been posting intelligence much earlier than previously thought.
The New York Times has discovered a Discord user profile matching Jack Teixeira’s shared secret intelligence about the war in Ukraine less than 48 hours after Russia began its invasion.
Teixeira has been charged in connection with leaking hundreds of classified Pentagon documents to a private gaming chat room of about 50 people, known as Thug Shaker Central, on the online messaging platform Discord.
The affidavit said he had started posting classified information on social media around December 2022, according to Reuters.
However, The Times has now found older postings dating back to February 2022, which were shared in a larger and more easily accessible Discord chat group, with about 600 members.
The user claimed to be posting information from the NSA, CIA, and other intelligence agencies. The posts included details about casualties on both sides, Russia’s spy agencies’ activities, and details about aid to Ukraine.
Less than 48 hours into Russia’s invasion, the user posted a message saying: “Saw a pentagon report saying that ⅓rd of the force is being used to invade.”
When questioned by another user, he boasted: “I have a little more than open source info. Perks of being in a USAF intel unit.”
On some occasions, the user shared information about the Russian invasion that preempted events on the battlefield.
On March 27, 2022, he said that Russia was planning to retreat from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, which Russian officials announced they were doing two days later.
The Times reported that it is unclear whether authorities are aware of these specific posts.
The paper linked the profile to Teixeira through various pieces of digital evidence, including the username he had previously used, the user sharing that he worked at a US Air Force intelligence unit, sharing the same birthday, and posting photos and videos matching others taken inside his family home.
Teixeira joined the Air National Guard in September 2019 and in 2021 was given “Top Secret” security clearance, which gave him access to the classified documents leaked online, according to the criminal complaint.
It appears he was motivated mainly by a desire to impress gamers he befriended online rather than leaking the classified information out of patriotism, according to accounts by friends reported by the Washington Post and New York Times.
Read the original article on Business Insider
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