According to a law enforcement source, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard is expected to be arrested shortly in connection with the leak of classified documents that were posted online.
According to the New York Times, the guardsman is 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, who is the leader of an online gaming group where a trove of classified documents was posted.
In recent days, the FBI has been conducting interviews with those they believe are responsible for the disclosures, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation. Due to the forensic trace left by the person who posted the documents, investigators have been able to zero in on a small subset of those who had access to the documents for closer examination. According to sources familiar with the situation, investigators are constructing a prosecution case.
The FBI believes it is near to identifying the leak’s perpetrator. According to a second source familiar with the criminal investigation, it is anticipated that it will progress much more rapidly than the Pentagon’s damage assessment.
President Joe Biden appeared to indicate earlier on Thursday that the US government was close to identifying the leaker.
Biden, when asked to remark on the leaks, stated, “A full-fledged investigation is currently underway.” “The intelligence community and the Department of Justice. And they are approaching. I have no response for you.”
Biden spoke in Dublin, where he is currently meeting with the Irish president. It was his first time addressing the disclosure.
Jeffrey Castro, a spokesman for the division, told CNN that the Army Criminal Investigation Division is also “assisting the DoD in their investigation” of the breach, as previously reported by CNN.
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the leaker worked at a military base and shared sensitive national security information with an online network of friends.
The leaker is described in the Post article as a lonely young man and gun enthusiast who was part of a chatroom of about two dozen people on Discord – a popular social media platform for video gamers – who shared a love of guns and military gear, according to a friend of the alleged leaker who was also interviewed by the Post.
The acquaintance told the Post he would not disclose the identity or location of the alleged leaker, who goes by the moniker “OG,” to authorities.
On March 3, 2022, more than a week after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Pentagon is viewed from above.
A breach at the Pentagon has led to restrictions on who can access military secrets.
Biden stated that he was concerned about the leaks’ occurrence, but not inherently their content.
“I am unconcerned with the disclosure. I am concerned that it occurred, but I am unaware of anything contemporaneous that is significant.”
CNN has obtained a portion of the leaked documents posted on social media, which contain detailed intelligence assessments of allies and adversaries, including the state of the war in Ukraine and the challenges both Kyiv and Moscow face as the war appears to be stuck in a stalemate for the foreseeable future.
Following the discovery of a significant leak of classified information last week, the Pentagon has begun restricting who in the government receives its highly classified daily intelligence briefs.
Some US officials who formerly received daily briefing materials have not received them in recent days, CNN has learned from sources with knowledge of the situation, as the Pentagon’s Joint Staff continues to prune distribution lists.
The Joint Staff, which comprises the Defense Department’s most senior uniformed leadership and advises the president, began examining its distribution lists as soon as it learned of the leak of classified documents – many of which bore markings indicating they were produced by the Joint Staff’s intelligence arm, known as the J2.
In an interview with News Nation on Wednesday, Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder stated that the Pentagon is examining “mitigation measures in terms of what we can do to prevent potential additional unauthorised leaks.”
The criminal investigation is being conducted by the FBI’s field office in Washington, which includes a team of counterintelligence investigators with experience hunting for leaks.
These investigators are also collaborating with Pentagon officials on the damage assessment, which would be used as evidence in the event of a prosecution.