There are many questions about the news that the 21-year-old guy managed to leak secret US documents about the war in Ukraine relatively easily, and whether this leak is an operation of the special services.
According to The New York Times, Jack Teixeira, a National Guardsman, is the head of Thug Shaker Central, an online group of 20-30 people who share a love of guns and video games that allegedly leaked classified documents, causing headaches in the US.
A young National Guard officer is reportedly to be arrested in Massachusetts today on suspicion of leaking classified Pentagon documents, Reuters reported, citing a source. A source who spoke to the agency on condition of anonymity did not elaborate, and the FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the developments. For its part, the Associated Press, citing its own sources, reported “the desire of the FBI to interrogate an Air National Guard soldier in Massachusetts.”
Who is Jack Teixeira, and how did he get secret information
Secret American documents leaked to the Internet continue to savor the media around the world. Who exactly published them is still unknown, although on Wednesday, February 12, the Washington Post newspaper said that it was a 20-year-old young man who worked at a military base.
Gamer Chat
The publication says that the guy shared secret information with a small group of like-minded people who share his “love for weapons, military equipment and God” on the popular Discord platform among gamers. On Wednesday, Discord said it was cooperating with law enforcement to investigate the leak.
The private Discord chat that got the files was created in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. It consisted of about 20 people, including teenagers. All of them were interested in weapons and military affairs, in particular, they discussed the situation in Ukraine.
In this chat there was a user under the nickname OG. Other members describe him as a charismatic young man in his 25s. According to a Washington Post interlocutor, OG began publishing classified documents in 2022, hundreds of messages – almost verbatim transcripts of secret intelligence documents, which, as the military himself said, he brought home from work at a “military base.” However, for a long time they did not attract the attention of other chat users due to the specific military jargon that none of them knew. Sometimes OG annotated some of the posted documents, such as explaining what “NOFORN” meant – the information in the document was so confidential that it could not be shared with foreign nationals.
Lectures on the situation in the world
OG told the group that he spent hours writing secret documents to share with them. He lectured them about what was happening in the world and secret government operations – he wanted to “keep us up to date”, said a chat participant. “He is a smart man. He certainly knew what he was doing when he posted these documents. These were not some random leaks,” he said.
His account was corroborated by a second member of the group, who read many of the same secret documents. Both members, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they knew OG’s real name and the state where he lives and works, but declined to share that information. His name is still unknown, but journalists came across a video in which OG shoots at a target shooting range and utters racist and anti-Semitic slogans.
Official investigation of classified documents
The Justice Department launched an official preliminary investigation into the leak last week, while the Pentagon is now assessing the impact of what may be the most damaging release of classified US documents in years. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the information. Earlier, President Joe Biden said authorities were “close” to the source of the leak.
Classified documents appeared on social networks, how Russia reacts
In recent days, photos of the documents in question have appeared on Twitter, Telegram, Discord and other social networks. Some may have been circulating on the internet for weeks. On Monday, the Pentagon assessed the leak as a “very serious” threat to US national security. Many of these documents are no longer available on the sites where they first appeared, and US authorities are trying to remove them. Moscow assessed today that the leak of classified US documents on the war in Ukraine may actually be “deliberate” and “fake” and aimed at deceiving Russia.
Here is a summary of some of these documents:
Account of the war in Ukraine
One of the documents summarizes the results of the war in Ukraine until March 1, 2023, a year after the outbreak of hostilities. U.S. Department of Defense intelligence estimated Russian casualties to be between 189,500 and 223,000, with 35,500–43,000 killed in action and 154,000–180,000 wounded.
On the Ukrainian side, between 15,500 and 17,500 people died and between 109,000 and 113,500 were wounded. These figures are almost ten times higher than any figures announced by Russia and Ukraine to date. Moscow reportedly lost more than 150 planes and helicopters compared to Kiev’s 90.
Another “version” of the document, apparently redacted, instead claims that Ukrainian losses are greater than Russian ones. “They contain a lot of information that does not correspond to reality,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said during a press conference in Madrid with his Spanish counterpart.
Lack of anti-aircraft missiles
Two documents dated Feb. 28 speak of the alarming state of Ukraine’s air defenses, which have so far played a critical role in fending off Russian airstrikes, preventing Moscow from taking control of its airspace. Kyiv’s ability to maintain medium-range air defenses to protect its front line “will be reduced to zero by May 23,” according to one of the documents.
Nearly 90% of Ukraine’s medium and long-range air defense systems are mainly based on the Soviet SA-11 and SA-10 systems, which could run out of ammunition in late March and early May, respectively.
Drone strikes in Russia under investigation
According to an undated document, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his frustration with his now highest-ranking general over the lack of long-range missiles in the Ukrainian armed forces that could hit enemy forces directly on Russian soil, according to an undated document. At the end of February, he reportedly offered to carry out such strikes with drones. This information seems to suggest that Washington has been keeping an eye on a close partner and partly explains the US reticence regarding Kyiv’s request for longer-range weapons. However, the reluctance of the Americans arose even before Zelensky’s conversation with his general.
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