The 21-year-old man, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, is due in court on Friday.
It is one of the most serious scandals for ten years in the United States. A suspect has been arrested in the investigation into the leak of confidential American documents and is due to appear in court on Friday, April 14. Jack Teixeira, 21, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard Intelligence Department, was “arrested without incident” in Dighton, a rural town south of Boston, announced Justice Minister Merrick Garland.
Franceinfo details what we know about this young soldier and how he was able to operate.
1 What do we know about Jack Teixeira?
Jack Teixeira grew up in the suburbs of Providence, in the State of Rhode Island (east coast of the United States). Several of his former comrades tell the CNN* channel that he was fascinated by the military universe, weapons and war. He would sometimes walk to school in camouflage and bring a book on firearms. “thick as a dictionary”. The day after a massacre in Las Vegas in 2017, Jack Teixeira went to class dressed in a T-shirt sporting an AR-15 rifle, the weapon used during the massacre.
THE Washington Post* reported on Wednesday that the leak was the work of a young man who worked on a military base. For his part, the New York Times* advanced the name of Jack Teixeira before his arrest, presenting him as a member of the intelligence department of the air national guard of Massachusetts. According to the daily, a number of elements pointed to him as one of those responsible for the leaks. THE Wall Street Journal* also wrote that the perpetrator was a member of the Air National Guard. His arrest Thursday evening confirmed the first information from the American media.
CNN reports that the US Air Force released Jack Teixeira’s service record, showing that he was “Airman 1st Class”, a rank just below that of sergeant. THE New York Times states that he was decorated with theAir Force Achievement Medal, which rewards young Air Force soldiers for notable deeds. Entered the US Army in 2019, he holds the position of “Cyber Transport Systems journeyman”i.e. responsible for ensuring that the “extensive communications network” of the Army “works correctly”according to the United States Air Force, quoted by CNN.
2 Where were the documents published?
The suspect used the pseudonym “OG” online, a popular abbreviation in the United States for “Original Gangster”. He is suspected of having published, for months, documents from the military base where he worked on a private group of the social network Discord. Initially used by video game enthusiasts, this platform makes it possible to exchange with people of their choice, to share documents (audio, video, PDF, etc.) thanks to a messaging system and forums.
“OG” had asked the other members of the group not to distribute the documents, assuring that he had no intention of being a whistleblower, writes the Washington Post. On Discord, “OG” was critical of the US federal state – which he accused of“abuse of power” – law enforcement and the intelligence community.
His chat group, made up of around 24 people, including some from Russia and Ukraine, was formed as early as 2020 around a shared passion for firearms, military equipment and religion. According to the washington postwho interviewed two members of the group, they sometimes exchange racist jokes.
At the end of February, a member of the group shares the confidential data in another Discord channel. The photos then circulate in other discussions and continue to spread while some find themselves modified. US intelligence services notice the leak in early April.
3 How did he get access to such sensitive documents?
The 21-year-old was a junior employee. But he was responsible for the proper functioning of the communications network within the US military. As a result, he could have access to highly confidential documents.
Mark Hertling, a former US Army general, told CNN* that some highly confidential documents are sometimes accessible to a large number of people. On the one hand, because the different commands need to share documents in order to coordinate. On the other hand, because analysts and intelligence specialists are not the only ones to consult the documents. These also pass through the hands of powerpoint rangersthat is to say soldiers in charge of laying out the documents to make the presentations. “There are a lot of people who see these things”he commented.
Defense Minister Lloyd Austin said on Thursday that he had ordered a “audit of access to our intelligence (…) and control procedures within the ministry to better guide our efforts to prevent this type of incident from happening again”. The Pentagon has already decided to restrict access to this type of sensitive information more strictly, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
US authorities have not publicly confirmed the authenticity of these documents posted online, and their veracity has not yet been independently verified. Many of these documents are no longer available on the sites where they originally appeared, and authorities are reportedly working to have them all removed.
* Links followed by an asterisk are in English.