The leaked secret documents of the US Department of Defense cause a political earthquake in Washington. It was apparently triggered by a 21-year-old National Guardsman.
The frantic search for the originator of one of the biggest secret service scandals in the USA is progressing: the Federal Police FBI has arrested a suspect. US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in Washington on Thursday that it was a military employee.
Previously, there had been consistent media reports that a 21-year-old military worker from the state of Massachusetts had been targeted by investigators. Accordingly, it is a member of the National Guard named Jack Teixeira, who led a chat group on the Discord platform popular with video gamers. He is said to have been a member of the National Guard’s 102nd Intelligence Wing.
It was not initially known whether he was the arrested suspect. US Secretary of Defense spokesman Pat Ryder said at a press conference that media reports about a potential suspect were known.
Chatname: “OG”
The 21-year-old is said to have initially shared the explosive documents as transcripts with a chat group he led on Discord, the US newspaper Washington Post previously reported, citing two members of the group. The man was known to them as “OG” and said he had obtained the documents at a military base – where he worked.
According to the Washington Post, around two dozen young people with a fondness for weapons and military equipment joined the 21-year-old’s chat group. The group was founded in 2020 during the corona pandemic. “OG” was described there as a charismatic gun nut with dark views of the US government, intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies.
“He’s fit. He’s strong. He’s armed”
Others in the group would have admired him. “He’s fit. He’s strong. He’s armed. He’s trained. Pretty much everything you could want from a crazy movie,” said one of the members. “OG” told the group that he obtained the documents at a military base where he worked. There he said he spent parts of the day in a secure facility where cell phones and other electronic devices that could be used to take photos or videos were banned. Therefore, he initially copied the documents.
He posted his posts in the group throughout the winter. It was probably about “bragging about in front of his friends”, but also about informing them, said a member of the group.
Transcription turned out to be too tedious
When copying proved too much of a hassle, he began posting images of previously printed papers, according to the newspaper. How he managed to do this was not initially clear. In mid-March, however, “OG” stopped sharing documents in the online group.
He obviously took a great risk of being caught: In the background of some of the photos that “OG” showed the others via video, there were pieces of furniture and objects that could bring the investigators to his trail. For example a tube of glue, manuals or a nail clipper.
Initially, “OG” received little attention
The New York Times wrote that details of the 21-year-old’s childhood home, which were published in family photos on social media, matched details in the margins of some photos of the secret documents published.
According to the Washington Post, the young man was at times frustrated that the other members of the group weren’t paying enough attention to his revelations because he had published strange acronyms and technical terms, one of the group members told the newspaper. His words were unfamiliar and few people read them immediately after publication. Only later did the documents become more popular.
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