Leader of Online Group Where Secret Documents Leaked Is Air National Guardsman
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/13/world...ce=articleShare
Federal investigators are searching for the person who shared top secret documents that revealed government secrets about the Ukraine war.
The disclosures have rattled the Pentagon, and the diplomatic community. Credit...Joshua Roberts/Reuters
By Aric Toler, Michael Schwirtz, Haley Willis, Riley Mellen, Christiaan Triebert, Malachy Browne, Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Julian E. Barnes
April 13, 2023Updated 12:27 p.m. ET

The leader of a small online gaming chat group where a trove of classified U.S. intelligence documents leaked over the last few months is a 21-year-old member of the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The national guardsman, whose name is Jack Teixeira, oversaw a private online group named Thug Shaker Central, where about 20 to 30 people, mostly young men and teenagers, came together over a shared love of guns, racist online memes and video games.

Two U.S. officials confirmed that investigators want to talk to Airman Teixeira about the leak of the government documents to the private online group. One official said Airman Teixeira might have information relevant to the investigation.

Federal investigators have been searching for days for the person who leaked the top secret documents online but have not identified Airman Teixeira or anyone else as a suspect. The F.B.I. declined to comment.

Starting months ago, one of the users uploaded hundreds of pages of intelligence briefings into the small chat group, lecturing its members, who had bonded during the isolation of the pandemic, on the importance of staying abreast of world events.

A Guide to the Leaked Pentagon Documents

A major intelligence breach. After U.S. intelligence documents, some marked “top secret,” were found circulating on social media, questions remain about how dozens of pages from Pentagon briefings became public and how much to believe them. Here is what we know:

Are the documents real? Yes, officials say — at least, for the most part. Some of the documents appear to have been altered, officials say. U.S. officials are alarmed at this exposure of secret information, and the F.B.I. is working to determine the source of the leak.

Where did the materials come from? The evidence that this is a leak, and not a hack, appears strong. The material may be popping up on platforms like Discord, Twitter, 4chan and the Telegram messaging app, but what is being circulated are photographs of printed briefing reports.

What did we learn about the war in Ukraine? The documents detail secret American and NATO plans for building up the Ukrainian military ahead of an expected offensive. They also suggest that the Ukrainian forces are in more dire straits than their government has acknowledged publicly.

Has the U.S. penetrated Russian intelligence? The leaked documents reveal how deeply the United States has burrowed into Russia’s security and intelligence services, allowing Washington to warn Ukraine about planned strikes and gain insights into the strength of Moscow’s war machine.

What other countries are named? The leak appears to go well beyond classified material on Ukraine. Analysts say the trove of documents also includes sensitive material on Canada, China, Israel and South Korea, in addition to the Indo-Pacific military theater and the Middle East.

The New York Times spoke with four members of the Thug Shaker Central chat group, one of whom said he has known the person who leaked for at least three years, had met him in person, and referred to him as the O.G. The friends described him as older than most of the group members, who were in their teens, and the undisputed leader. One of the friends said the O.G. had access to intelligence documents through his job.

While the gaming friends would not identify the group’s leader by name, a trail of digital evidence compiled by The Times leads to Airman Teixeira.

The Times has been able to link Airman Teixeira to other members of the Thug Shaker Central group through his online gaming profile and other records. Details of the interior of Airman Teixeira’s childhood home — posted on social media in family photographs — also match details on the margins of some of the photographs of the leaked secret documents.-- excerpt, rest at link above --

Attorney General Garland Gives Update As FBI Makes Arrest In Connection With Leak Of U.S. Military Documents
https://www.dailywire.com/news/attorney-...itary-documents
•Apr 13, 2023 DailyWire.com
•By Ryan Saavedra


Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday afternoon that federal law enforcement officials have arrested 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira in connection with the leaking of classified U.S. military documents.

Garland said that FBI agents took Teixeira into custody this afternoon without incident in their investigation into “unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information.”

Teixeira will have an initial appearance at the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Garland said.

Roughly half a dozen FBI agents “pushed into a residence” and arrested Teixeira. Photos and videos posted on social media showed a large law enforcement presence outside the home as helicopters swarmed overhead.

The FBI addressed the arrest in a statement, saying that they took the suspect into custody and are “continuing to conduct authorized law enforcement activity at a residence in North Dighton, Massachusetts.”

“As this is an ongoing matter, we cannot provide further comment at this time,” the statement added.

The New York Times identified Teixeira as being the leader of an online Discord server where hundreds of photos of classified material was posted. The server, dubbed “Thug Shaker Central,” was comprised of a couple dozen like-minded men and boys.

A member of the group told The Washington Post that the alleged leaker, referred to as “OG,” expressed anti-government sentiment but they did not believe he was trying to help any foreign power, and they think he was trying to show off.-- excerpt, rest at link above --

The Leak Was the Op – White House and Congress Demand New Powers, Think Restrict Act, in Aftermath of Classified Intel Leaks
April 13, 2023 | Sundance |
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blo...ed-intel-leaks/


Never letting a crisis go to waste is very useful tool, especially when the government creates the crisis. As CTH has said from the first discussion of the classified intelligence leaks, the “leak is the op.”

The intel leak is the operation created by the Intelligence Community to support new expanded powers for the Fourth Branch of Government. It should not be a surprise to discover the institution now leading the charge to give more power for U.S. intel agencies, is…. wait for it….. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

The SSCI is the organizational institution that supports the Fourth Branch of Government, the intelligence branch. The SSCI previously created a bipartisan Restrict Act, to deal with dangerous information on the internet.

According to SSCI Chairman Mark Warner, ‘The Restrict Act’ will give more power and authorities to the Executive Branch to deal with internet danger. Now the SSCI sees the classified intel leaks as evidence for the importance of the Restrict Act.

Well, butter my buns and call me a biscuit, surprise-surprise! Funny how that happens.

(Via NBC) – The Biden administration is looking at expanding how it monitors social media sites and chatrooms after U.S. intelligence agencies failed to spot classified Pentagon documents circulating online for weeks, according to a senior administration official and a congressional official briefed on the matter.

The possible change in the intelligence-gathering process is just one potential shift as officials scramble to determine not only how the documents leaked but also how to prevent another damaging incident.

[…] The president and other officials were dismayed when they learned the documents had been online for at least a month. “Nobody is happy about this,” said the senior administration official.

The administration is now looking at expanding the universe of online sites that intelligence agencies and law enforcement authorities track, the official said.

[…] If the administration tries to check online chatrooms more closely, it will have to navigate legal safeguards designed to protect Americans’ privacy and freedom of expression, former intelligence officials said.

Watching a public chatroom is fair game, but law enforcement agencies don’t have the legal authority to monitor a private online chatroom without probable cause, the former officials said.

“We do not have nor do we want a system where the United States government monitors private internet chats,” said Glenn Gerstell, former general counsel of the National Security Agency from 2015 to 2020.

[…] Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., said the leak raised yet more questions about how the government manages its secrets, only months after revelations that successive administrations appeared to have mishandled classified documents. […] “I think it’s time that Congress plays a role here in setting some parameters,” Warner said. (read more)

Just a few “parameters“…

Swear.

Promise.

Uh huh….

The Restrict Act, also known as Senate Bill 686 [SB686 HERE], also known as the bipartisan bill to empower the executive branch to shut down TikTok. Also known as the ‘online Patriot Act’.-- excerpt, rest at link above --

Well worth listening to!!

Former DNI Kash Patel Confirms Jack Teixeira Would Not Have Had Access to Documents He Leaked
By Jennifer Van Laar | 3:03 PM on April 16, 2023
https://redstate.com/jenvanlaar/2023/04/...-leaked-n732254
Massachusetts AIr National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, accused of classified document leak. CREDIT: Simon Ateba, Twitter

Despite working in information technology within an intelligence wing of the Air Force, Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira would not have legally had access to the classified information he’s accused of leaking on a Discord server, former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Kash Patel said Friday. Patel’s assessment echoes what was written at RedState on Thursday.

On Breitbart News, Patel also described several methods by which Teixeira could have gained access to the information:

Patel said, first, the suspected leaker, Jack Teixeira, would not have had access to the information without someone within the Department of Defense (DOD) or the intelligence community giving it to him, providing it to him, or telling him it should be put out there. “It’s just not possible,” he said.

“You can be the biggest IT person in DOD, and you are still compartmented off of the actual information. Almost never does an IT person need to know, as we say, the substance of the intelligence. Their job is to provide the secure informations systems around it to protect any disclosures.”

Surprisingly, ABC News also published a story on Saturday citing defense officials who agreed that Teixeira’s job description does not equal “need to know.”

Defense officials told ABC News that having a TS-SCI clearance is typical for Air Force personnel who in order to provide IT support might need access to classified spaces, computers and networks so they could do their jobs.

But the fact that you have a clearance does not mean you have access to everything at that level. That access is based on your “need to know” the information for your job.

Some have argued that since Teixeira worked on the computer systems within a SCIF he would have had access to these documents and that perhaps the intelligence wing he supported possessed the work product of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Presidential Daily Brief. Patel says, no way:

“This is crazy sensitive stuff,” he said. “Ninety-nine percent of people who have a Top Secret/SCI clearance don’t have access to this information. And me, as the former deputy DNI and chief of staff of the DOD and publisher of the [Presidential Daily Brief], with the highest security classification, knows that, literally, there is not a lot of people in the U.S. that have access to this kind of intel. It’s done for a reason. So this doesn’t happen.”

“The amount of intelligence they got…Somebody’s giving them that type of documentation. It’s just not readily available,” he said about the reporting. “Where did they get that from? That doesn’t come from anyone who doesn’t have direct access at the end in the United States.”

As Patel said, in addition to the classification level and the “need to know” basis, there’s also the compartmentalization of information. While silo-ing of information within a corporate structure is a bad thing, within military intelligence it is vital.

On Thursday we suggested the possibility that Teixeira did not act alone:-- excerpt, rest at link above --

Quote: Isailedaway wrote in post #10

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This all smells like a fall guy episode.

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Leaked Pentagon documents reveal US and UK deployed special forces in Ukraine
https://www.rebelnews.com/leaked_pentago...rces_in_ukraine
The leaked documents suggest that between February and March this year, over half of the Western special forces present in Ukraine might have been British. However, the exact activities the special forces engaged in and whether the number of personnel remained at that level remain uncertain.
By Ian Miles Cheong | April 11, 2023 | News

Leaked Pentagon documents reveal US and UK deployed special forces in Ukraine
Public Domain

Contradicting President Biden's promise not to deploy "boots on the ground" in Ukraine, leaked Pentagon documents indicate that the US, UK, France, Latvia and Netherlands may have deployed as many as 97 special forces personnel to the country, with the UK making up the bulk of the forces followed by the US.

As detailed by journalist Michael Tracey and The Guardian, respectively, both the United States and the United Kingdom deployed special forces units in Ukraine, where fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces remains ongoing.

“Should probably be emphasized that this is the first known instance of official documentary confirmation of US 'boots on the ground' in Ukraine. It's right there in black and white,” wrote Tracey.

Per The Guardian, the leaked documents suggest that between February and March this year, over half of the Western special forces present in Ukraine might have been British. However, the exact activities the special forces engaged in and whether the number of personnel remained at that level remain uncertain.

The UK's elite military forces, which include units such as the Special Air Service (SAS), typically operate under a veil of secrecy. The UK government has not disclosed that special forces have been active in Ukraine since the war began. However, before Russia's invasion, in June 2021, the UK embassy in Kiev acknowledged that special forces conducted training exercises with Ukrainian forces.

When asked about the recent disclosures or inquiries about UK personnel in Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) declined to offer comment to the publication, citing a longstanding policy not to discuss special forces matters.

The leaked documents, which were confirmed by the Pentagon to have been leaked, are part of a collection of classified US military and intelligence files posted on Discord, a platform popular among gamers. The original source of the files is unknown at this time. The documents have sparked a series of media reports on US military and intelligence assessments, primarily concerning the war in Ukraine.-- excerpt, rest at link above --