US formally charges suspect in Pentagon documents leak

According to the BBC, a 21-year-old member of the US Air National Guard, Jack Teixeira, was formally charged in relation to the leaking of hundreds of classified files on the Discord server.

The two charges are:

Unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information;

Unauthorized removal of classified information and defense materials.

The US airman appeared before a federal judge in Boston in handcuffs and a prison jumpsuit.

The suspect faces up to 10 years in prison for the first charge and up to 5 years in prison for the second. 

The arrest of 21-year-old Jack Teixeira came after the US government's fast-moving search for the identity of the leaker who posted classified documents on a social media platform popular with video gamers.

Earlier, The New York Times reported that Guardsman Jack Teixeira oversaw a private online group called Thug Shaker Central, where about 20-30 people, mostly young adults and teenagers, united because of their common interest in guns, racist Internet memes and video games.

The New York Times journalists spoke to four members of the Thug Shaker Central chat group members. One of them said that he had known the person who made the leak for at least three years. He had met him in person and called him O.G.

The friends described him as older than most of the group, who were in their teens, and the undisputed leader. One of the friends said that O.G. had access to intelligence documents due to his job.

• On April 6, The New York Times reported on the leak of classified documents detailing US and NATO plans to build up the Ukrainian army before the planned counteroffensive. The Pentagon launched an investigation.

• Almost immediately, a new batch of classified documents appeared on social media, allegedly revealing US national security secrets regarding Ukraine, the Middle East, and China.

• Already on April 8, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine reported that the so-called classified military documents on the plans for the Ukrainian Armed Forces' offensive were a forgery and a special operation by Russian intelligence services. Russia could have forged the documents to disrupt Western aid to Ukraine.

• On April 9, investigative journalists from Bellingcat found out that the original source of the leaked classified Pentagon documents on the Ukrainian Armed Forces' counteroffensive was a Discord server. CNN reported that the Ukrainian military command changed some of its military plans after the leak of classified Pentagon documents online.