Billing records of an Internet social media platform and interviews with another user helped the FBI identify a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman as a suspect in the leak of highly classified military documents, according to court records unsealed Friday. The new details came as Jack Teixeira, 21, appeared in court to face charges under the Espionage Act of unauthorized removal and retention of classified and national defense information, the AP report. A federal magistrate judge ordered him held until a detention hearing next Wednesday.
Teixeira was arrested by heavily armed tactical agents on Thursday following a weeklong criminal investigation into the disclosure of the government records, a breach that exposed to the world unvarnished secret assessments on the war in Ukraine, the capabilities and geopolitical interests of other nations, and other national security issues. Investigators believe Teixeira was the leader of an online private chat group on Discord, a social media platform popular with gamers. Billing records the FBI obtained from Discord, which has said it was cooperating with the bureau, helped lead investigators to Teixeira, according to an FBI affidavit. According to the document, the FBI interviewed someone familiar with Teixeira’s online posts on Monday.
That person, who is not identified in the affidavit, told the FBI that a username linked to Teixeira began posting what appeared to be classified information roughly in December. The affidavit also alleges Teixeira was detected on April 6—the day the New York Times first published a story about the breach of documents—searching for the word "leak" in a classified system. The FBI says that was reason to believe Teixeira was trying to find information about the investigation into who was responsible for the leaks. (Friends say Teixeira "wasn't a whistleblower.")
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