National guardsman suspected to be behind US military document leaks arrested
A national guardsman suspected to be behind a series of US military document leaks has been arrested by the FBI.
Jack Teixeira, 21, is said to have overseen a private online group, containing around 25 active members, in which the highly sensitive documents were shared.
Teixeira is a member of the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The New York Times.
Officials told Sky News’ US partner network, NBC News, that they have been on to him for some time
On Thursday, the FBI said it had made an arrest in Massachusetts.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed the arrest of Teixeira and said he was due to be brought to court for an initial appearance.
The Pentagon has been searching for the source of the leaks, which have exposed potentially hundreds of pages of intelligence about Russian efforts in Ukraine and spying on US allies.
Pentagon press secretary Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder, addressing reporters on Thursday, said the leaks were being taken “very seriously”.
“We do have stringent guidelines in place for safeguarding classified and sensitive information,” he added.
“This was a deliberate criminal act, a violation of these guidelines.”
However, he refused to comment on the identity of the suspect.
“Given this is an ongoing investigation, I’m not going to be able to talk about the investigation or any potential Department of Justice action,” he told reporters.
