Pentagon leaks began hours after start of Ukraine war: NYT

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The New York Times
22 Apr 2023 07:38
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The NYT says soon after the start of the Ukraine war, a user profile matching that of Jack Teixeira began posting secret intelligence.

Russian servicemen drive tanks during military exercises in the Leningrad Region, Russia, in this handout picture released February 14, 2022 (Russian Defense Ministry)

Jack Teixeira, 21, the Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified Pentagon documents, had been posting the information months earlier than previously known and to a much larger chat group, a new report published by The New York Times suggested.

According to the newspaper, soon after the start of the Ukraine war, “a user profile matching that of Airman Jack Teixeira began posting secret intelligence on the Russian war effort on a previously undisclosed chat group on Discord” that contained about 600 members.

The newspaper said it knew about the additional Discord room, which was publicly listed on a YouTube channel and was easily accessed in seconds, from a user.

Teixeira, an information technology specialist at an Air Force base in Massachusetts, was arrested on April 13 and accused of leaking classified documents on another Discord group consisting of about 50 members, called Thug Shaker Central, in October 2022, The New York Times cited members of the group as saying.

The Times noted that it is not clear whether US authorities are aware of the sensitive material posted on the much larger Discord group, where the user with a profile matching that of Teixeira posted information about Russian and Ukrainian casualties, activities of the Russian intelligence agencies, and updates on military assistance provided to Ukraine.

“The user claimed to be posting information from the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies,” the report said, raising questions about why US authorities did not discover the leaks sooner.

“I have a little more than open source info. Perks of being in a USAF intel unit,” the user had posted, according to The Times.

On March 27, 2022, the user leaked classified information about a Russian pullback from Kiev, which he said he “found on an NSA site.” Two days later, the Russians announced that they were pulling back from the Ukrainian capital, the report highlighted.