Air National Guardsman: FBI arrests 21-year-old for classified document leak

WASHINGTON: Federal authorities arrested Jack Teixeira on Thursday for his suspected involvement in the unauthorised dissemination of classified documents on the internet. 

Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was taken into custody without any issues by FBI agents. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland made a brief statement at the Justice Department, indicating that Teixeira's arrest was in connection with an ongoing criminal investigation into alleged illegal activities that include the removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defence information. 

Garland confirmed that Teixeira is an employee of the United States Air Force National Guard and will appear before the US District Court for Massachusetts. FBI agents arrested Teixeira at a residence in North Dighton, Massachusetts, which is located over an hour from the military base where he worked. The investigation is ongoing, and Garland declined to answer any questions from the media.

"The FBI is continuing to conduct authorised law enforcement activity at the residence," the statement said. "Since late last week the FBI has aggressively pursued investigative leads, and today’s arrest exemplifies our continued commitment to identifying, pursuing, and holding accountable those who betray our country’s trust and put our national security at risk."

According to military records, Jack Teixeira has been in the Air National Guard since September 2019 and currently holds the rank of airman first class. 

He works as a cyber transport systems journeyman and is stationed at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod. In July, the 102nd Intelligence Wing, which is based at the same location, posted a Facebook message congratulating a person with Teixeira's name on being promoted to airman first class.

US officials have been conducting a search for the source of a recent leak that exposed potentially hundreds of pages of intelligence related to Russian activities in Ukraine and the spying on US allies. 

The Pentagon press secretary, Air Force Brig. Gen Pat Ryder, declined to identify the suspect at a Thursday briefing and referred reporters to the Justice Department, citing the ongoing investigation. Ryder noted that the Defence Department is working closely with the intelligence community to comprehend the extent of the leak and emphasised that they have limited information about the documents themselves.