April 13, 2023 - Arrest made in connection with leaked US classified documents

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is directing a review of intelligence access following the arrest of an Air National Guardsman who allegedly leaked classified intelligence online. 

 The review will be conducted by the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, Austin said. It will also examine "accountability and control procedures within the Department to inform our efforts to prevent this kind of incident from happening again.” 

This review is part of the broader internal probe the Defense Department is conducting of its practices and the potential damage caused by the leak, which CNN has previously reported is being led by Milancy Harris, the deputy under secretary of defense for intelligence and security. 

The leaked documents posted to social media included detailed intelligence assessments of allies and adversaries alike, including on the state of the war in Ukraine and the challenges Kyiv and Moscow face as the war appears stuck in a stalemate.

Austin commended the Department of Justice and FBI for their arrest of Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old Guardsman assigned to the Massachusetts Air National Guard. Teixeira allegedly leaked classified intelligence onto a Discord server in recent months. 

“The Department of Defense, in close partnership with the Intelligence Community and our interagency partners, will continue to review the national security implications of this unauthorized disclosure,” Austin said.

Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was arrested in Massachusetts on Thursday in connection to a leak online of classified US intelligence.

The leaked documents appeared last month on the social media platform Discord, according to screenshots of the posts reviewed by CNN. Teixeira, 21, is believed to be the leader of a Discord chat group where the documents were posted, multiple US officials told CNN.

The documents included detailed intelligence assessments of allies and adversaries alike, including the state of the war in Ukraine.

The Pentagon has begun to limit who across the government receives its highly classified daily intelligence briefs following the leak.

The arrest: The suspect was under surveillance for at least a couple of days prior to his arrest, according to a US government source familiar with the case. He was expected to go to work Thursday where the FBI intended to take him into custody under more controlled circumstances, according to the source.

When the suspect did not go to work, agents who were already positioned outside his mother’s house, waited for the suspect to come out, the source said. This search and arrest effort accelerated when reporters for The New York Times knocked on the house door and spoke to people inside. 

Here's what else we know about the suspect:

Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guard arrested in connection with leaking classified documents, was recently promoted to Airman 1st Class, according to a Facebook post by the 102nd Intelligence Wing.

Teixeira grew up in the suburbs of Providence, Rhode Island, according to public records. He attended Dighton-Rehoboth High School where he graduated in 2020, the superintendent of the regional school district said.

He entered the Air National Guard on Sept 26, 2019, according to the Defense Department.

His mother runs a flower business and often lauded Teixeira’s military service on her company’s Instagram account.

The suspect accused of leaking classified documents was under surveillance for at least a couple of days prior to his arrest by the FBI on Thursday, according to a US government source familiar with the case.

The 21-year-old, who is a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was expected to go to work Thursday where the FBI intended to take him into custody under more controlled circumstances, according to the source.

When the suspect did not go to work, agents who were already positioned outside his mother’s house, waited for the suspect to come out, the source said. This search and arrest effort accelerated when reporters for The New York Times knocked on the house door and spoke to people inside. 

The FBI is awaiting a search warrant for the mother’s residence as well as the father’s residence because the suspect spent time living at both locations, this source said.

Authorities expect to find numerous weapons in their search, based on photos posted on social media. The likely presence of weapons was one of the driving reasons the FBI did not want to make the arrest by raiding the house. Instead, agents waited for an opportunity to get him outside the house. 

Members of the House Intelligence Committee have been in touch about hosting hearings to find out how the 21-year-old National Guard member arrested Thursday for allegedly leaking classified US government documents was able to obtain the sensitive material, Chairman Mike Turner said Thursday.

"We need to have hearings as to, you know, what is the scope of documents, especially when you have something as volatile as a battlefield of Ukraine," Turner told CNN's Jake Tapper.

Jack Teixeira, the suspect, was described by The Washington Post as a lonely young man and gun enthusiast who was part of a chatroom of about two dozen people on Discord – a social media platform popular with video gamers – where members shared a love of guns and military gear.

Turner, who said he visited Kyiv recently, added that the upcoming Ukraine offensive was highly sensitive and the information leaked shouldn't be available to someone "trying to show it to their friends to impress them."

The FBI says it is still searching for evidence at a home in North Dighton, Massachusetts, where officers arrested a 21-year-old National Guard member for his alleged involvement in leaking classified US government and military documents.

Agents are likely looking through computers, hard drives, thumb drives, cameras and phones — anything that may have been used to capture and distribute classified documents, said John Miller, CNN's chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst.

Miller said he anticipates law enforcement will issue multiple search warrants at different residences connected to the suspect. He said the FBI may also seize weapons belonging to the suspect, Jack Teixeira.

Jack Teixeira is believed to be the leader of the chat group where a trove of classified documents were posted, multiple US officials told CNN.

The search for the suspect began with thousands of people who had access to the documents, but investigators were able to quickly narrow the search to potential members of the chat group with evidence collected in the days immediately following the discovery of classified documents online by US officials.

The first court appearance for Jack Teixeira will be tomorrow in Boston, according to the US Attorney’s office. The exact timing of the appearance will be announced tomorrow.

Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, has been arrested in connection with alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information.

President Joe Biden was briefed on the FBI arrest of a suspect concerning the leaking of classified documents, according to a US official familiar with the matter. 

Biden, currently on his way to a banquet dinner in his honor at Dublin Castle, was briefed between his speech to the Irish parliament and his departure. He was at the hotel for roughly 90 minutes between the two events. 

Biden has been briefed regularly throughout the investigation, according to officials, and appeared to allude to how close law enforcement officials were to a possible arrest when he answered a question about the matter earlier Thursday in Dublin during a visit with the Irish president.