Suspected leaker of top-secret Pentagon documents arrested

Officials say Jack Teixeira, a National Guard technology support staffer, is suspected of mishandling U.S. military security secrets

By Shane Harris

Samuel Oakford

Devlin Barrett

and

Perry Stein

Updated April 13, 2023 at 7:22 p.m. EDT|Published April 13, 2023 at 12:50 p.m. EDT

A Massachusetts Air National Guard member was arrested by the FBI on April 13 in the investigation of leaks of classified military documents. (Video: WCVB)

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A young member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard was arrested by the FBI on Thursday afternoon in the investigation into leaks of classified military intelligence that started with a small online group and eventually led to hundreds of government secrets spilling out to the wider world.

The arrest came hours after people familiar with the case, who like others interviewed spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a developing investigation, identified the individual, 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, as the primary focus of the investigation. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the individual who leaked the information shared documents with a small circle of online friends on the Discord chat platform, which is popular with gamers. In that group, a user said, Teixeira’s handles included jackthedripper.