By Sarah N. Lynch and Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The FBI on Thursday arrested a member of the U.S. Air National Guard for leaking secret U.S. documents that embarrassed Washington before allies around the world.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the FBI arrested Jack Teixeira “in connection with an investigation into the alleged unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information.”
“FBI agents arrested Teixeira without incident earlier this afternoon,” Garland told reporters in a brief statement at the Justice Department.
“That investigation is ongoing,” he added, without answering questions.
The FBI said its agents had made an arrest and were conducting “authorized police activities at a residence in North Dighton, Massachusetts.”
A video shown on news channels shows heavily armed police escorting a young man wearing a gray T-shirt and red shorts towards a waiting car. He had his head down and his hair cut close.
US authorities have been searching for weeks for the culprit and assessing the damage caused by the release of the intelligence reports, which first surfaced on social networking sites in March. The data allegedly reveals details of Ukrainian military vulnerabilities and information about US allies including Israel, South Korea and Turkey.
The Defense Department referred the case to the Justice Department, which opened a formal criminal investigation last week. The Pentagon is assessing the damage.
Reuters has reviewed more than 50 documents classified as “Secret” and “Top Secret”, but has not independently verified their authenticity. It is likely that the number of leaked documents exceeds 100.
US President Joe Biden, on a three-day tour of Ireland, said he was not overly concerned about the leak.
Some of the most sensitive leaked information allegedly relates to Ukraine’s military capabilities and failures, as well as information about US allies.
Biden said earlier on Thursday that investigators were closing in on the source of the leak, in what is believed to be the most serious breach of security in years. [L1N36G1RP]
The New York Times previously reported that Teixeira, 21, was a national guard who led an online group of about 20 to 30 people who shared his love of guns, racist memes and video games. The NYT cited interviews and documents he reviewed.
(By Sarah N. Lynch and Idrees Ali; additional reporting by Steve Holland in Dublin, Katharine Jackson, Susan Heavey, Jasper Ward and Raphael Satter in Washington and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations)
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