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The Military United States Privacy

Leader of Online Group Where Secret Documents Leaked Is Air National Guardsman (nytimes.com) 182

Posted by BeauHD from the behind-the-scenes dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: The leader of a small online gaming chat group where a trove of classified U.S. intelligence documents leaked over the last few months is a 21-year-old member of the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The New York Times. The National Guardsman, whose name is Jack Teixeira, oversaw a private online group called Thug Shaker Central, where about 20 to 30 people, mostly young men and teenagers, came together over a shared love of guns, racist online memes and video games. On Thursday afternoon, about a half-dozen F.B.I. agents pushed into a residence in North Dighton, Mass. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland later said in a short statement that Airman Teixeira had been arrested "without incident." Federal investigators had been searching for days for the person who leaked the top secret documents online.

Starting months ago, one of the users uploaded hundreds of pages of intelligence briefings into the small chat group, lecturing its members, who had bonded during the isolation of the pandemic, on the importance of staying abreast of world events. [...] The Times spoke with four members of Thug Shaker Central, one of whom said he had known the person who leaked for at least three years, had met him in person and referred to him as the O.G. The friends described him as older than most of the group members, who were in their teens, and the undisputed leader. One of the friends said the O.G. had access to intelligence documents through his job. While the gaming friends would not identify the group's leader by name, a trail of digital evidence compiled by The Times leads to Airman Teixeira. The Times has been able to link Airman Teixeira to other members of Thug Shaker Central through his online gaming profile and other records. Details of the interior of Airman Teixeira's childhood home -- posted on social media in family photographs -- also match details on the margins of some of the photographs of the leaked secret documents.

Members of Thug Shaker Central who spoke to The Times said that the documents they discussed online were meant to be purely informative. While many pertained to the war in Ukraine, the members said they took no side in the conflict. The documents, they said, started to get wider attention only when one of the teenage members of the group took a few dozen of them and posted them to a public online forum. From there they were picked up by Russian-language Telegram channels and then The Times, which first reported on them. The person who leaked, they said, was no whistle-blower, and the secret documents were never meant to leave their small corner of the internet. "This guy was a Christian, antiwar, just wanted to inform some of his friends about what's going on," said one of the person's friends from the community, a 17-year-old recent high school graduate. "We have some people in our group who are in Ukraine. We like fighting games; we like war games."
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Leader of Online Group Where Secret Documents Leaked Is Air National Guardsman More

Leader of Online Group Where Secret Documents Leaked Is Air National Guardsman

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  • Lock him up for life. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by bjwest ( 14070 ) on Thursday April 13, 2023 @05:26PM (#63447766)
    A lifetime in a military prison is what this traitor deserves.

    • I think you can get death by firing squad for that

    • "A lifetime in a military prison is what this traitor deserves", if he is found guilty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice or federally prosecuted.

      FTFY

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by bjwest ( 14070 )

        "A lifetime in a military prison is what this traitor deserves", if he is found guilty under the Uniform Code of Military Justice or federally prosecuted.

        FTFY

        Well, of course. And it definitely should be a military court that tries him if he was active when he stole the intel.

    • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

      by ArchieBunker ( 132337 )

      Yeah it isn’t like he kept boxes of top secret documents in a closet at a country club.

    • It's not like he's going to be in immediate danger. The most secure thing he's ever going to see in his entire life is the hot dog rollers at the convenience store he'll be lucky to land a job at. And I doubt he's going to get clearance for them.

      I can't help but feel bad for the guy to a certain extent. I don't know a lot about it yet but from what I can tell it's just a dumb freaking kid (I'm old enough I can call somebody his age a kid). I'm also against using punishment as a deterrent. At that point

      • Re:I don't know if I'd throw them in prison for li (Score:4, Interesting)

        by larryjoe ( 135075 ) on Thursday April 13, 2023 @06:16PM (#63447912)

        One last thing too to consider is that we know guys like this or a problem but we keep giving them access to classified information.

        One of the big issues is the huge number of Americans with top-secret clearance: over 1.25 million as of 2019 [fas.org]. And that's on top of the 1.7 million with secret clearance. If the clearance investigation were 99% accurate (which is likely overly optimistic), that would suggest that 12.5 thousand top-secret clearance people shouldn't have been vetted.

        This case perhaps might indicate problems with vetting, but the more concerning problem is that vetting is known to be fuzzy. Some people at the time of vetting shouldn't receive clearance. More importantly, some people who should be vetted will either do something foolish or incompetent (possibly what this guy did) or will be vulnerable to being recruited by foreign agents. As most competent companies do, the list of top-secret clearances should be limited to the smallest group possible.

        • But it's not just the clearance. There's also Need To Know. If this guy didn't have NTK, and I can't imagine why he would, he shouldnt have had access anyway.

          • This really points to the lack of strict security controls and procedures in the US over the last couple of decades. Really surprised that Madding and Snowden didn't cause a shake up leading to reform, as they were also two cases of people who should not have had access actually having an easy time of access.

            • This really points to the lack of strict security controls and procedures in the US over the last couple of decades. Really surprised that Madding and Snowden didn't cause a shake up leading to reform, as they were also two cases of people who should not have had access actually having an easy time of access.

              Controlling information in this day and age requires competence in information technology. Not something the US armed forces is currently brimming with, and their track record with contractors has ranged from weak to abysmal. They maintain some modicum of secrecy by applying lots and lots (and lots) of physical security, something they understand well. But once you're through the door, it's pretty damn weak.

              They had hoped their cloud initiative (which is not the public cloud, by the way; they do understa

        • Beau of the fifth column called him a bag of red flags dumped into a uniform. At a certain point you have to question why the leadership put this guy in a position to have that kind of clearance.
      • having clearance doesn't give you access to classified information. It means if you have a need to access information it can be granted to you.

    • Whooa there Nelly. They've only named him, likely in an attempt to get people such as yourself "riled up" and pleased that "justice is being done" and that the military establishment that let these secrets get away from it aren't a bunch of idiots for doing so.

      Except no justice is being done here - the guy hasn't been found guilty - he hasn't even been tried. His life is probably entirely ruined, so it really makes no difference what happens how, he's screwed either way. Facilitated by people such as yourse

    • A lifetime in a military prison is what this traitor deserves.

      On one hand, I STRONGLY agree with you. Firing squad even.

      On the other hand, I think the situation and outcome should be a little more nuanced.

      This was a young man who clearly has no direction in life and was chasing "clout" with his associates. It looks like a child playing with a nuclear bomb. Not even close to realizing the true gravity of the situation.

      I suspect the best outcome is to permanently keep him from any sort of sensitive information of any type and (very) publicly shame his behavior (includin

  • Who also plays a Call of Cthulhu RPG? (Score:4, Funny)

    by xevioso ( 598654 ) on Thursday April 13, 2023 @05:26PM (#63447770)

    Seems legit

  • He's a patsy (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gillbates ( 106458 ) on Thursday April 13, 2023 @05:34PM (#63447786) Homepage Journal

    If an Air National Guard airman has access to strategic level classified information, ALL of the top brass from the Secretary of Defense on down to his local commander should be court-martialed.

    Top secret information is disseminated on a need-to-know basis, and there's no legitimate reason why this airman had any need to know. He should not have had access to the documents in the first place. That he did is an indictment against the entire chain of command.

    I have worked in secure environments, and I find it difficult to believe that the military is this incompetent. Bradley Manning (ne Chelsea?) had access to classified footage because he was on active duty working in the theater of operations, but WTH is a national guardsmen doing with strategic level classified documents? This is the cover story, folks, and we probably don't want to know what really happened.

    • Yeah, I find it very worrying if this is legit and this kid actually did get promoted into a high security access position without having a very thorough, check all orifices, background check.

      • Please tell me what you know about the Airman's actual duties and security clearance that preclude him from accessing the leaked documents. Age and rank don't heavily factor into the need for various security clearances.

        His discord friends probably won't ever get sensitive government jobs, assuming they want one.

        • I don't know anything about any of his duties. Nor do I see why it would be relevant to the fact that proper security checks weren't done. Age and rank has nothing to do with it either. But online and other personal activities absolutely do. There is no right to privacy when it comes to jobs in the security sector.

          • I totally agree. The DoD doesn't track and monitor employees that handle top-secret information? Incompetence.

            • That's *extremely* hard to do. Let's take your handle here, for example: ttspttsp. How would someone go from your real life name to that handle, to find out that you're posting here in your off-work time?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Shag ( 3737 )

        Media indicated he was basically an IT guy whose job was to take care of computers and networks. Being in an intel unit, that presumably meant dealing with JWICS, which I *think* is the top-secret network. (I've never had access to anything top-secret, so I don't know for sure.)

        This is like the military version of working at GameStop and copying customers' credit-card info.

        • Yeah I don't think that's how it works at all. If you have even the possibility of seeing or accessing sensitive data, you would have to have security clearances.

          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by Shag ( 3737 )

            Well, yes. That part is so obvious I didn't think it needed mentioning, sorry.

            Another article said he was a "Cyber Transport Journeyman" which I think is AFSC 3D152. (AFSC is his occupational specialty in the USAF.)

            A lot of people in the military have clearances. A smaller number, but still a lot, have top-secret clearances. If this kid joined up at 18 or 19 and didn't have any red flags (criminal record, drugs, etc) there's not a lot that would prevent him from being given TS/SCI. And coming from a mi

    • Similar train of thought, I work for a manufacturer with direct-to-customer sales as an analyst and I can't get access to information that's not nearly so sensitive as what's being discussed here. Nothing about story this passes the proverbial sniff-test.
    • It is weird. Air national guard?

      A lot of organizations probably will lose access to a lot of information because of this, Its a hidden cost of such leaks, because (all else equal) the more organizations are operating in ignorance of what each other are doing, the less efficient and effective they will be. 9/11 happens and we say, 'how did we fail to connect the dots, even though we had all the info?' Part of the reason is because there are so few (if any) parties that had access to all the pieces.

    • If an Air National Guard airman has access to strategic level classified information, ALL of the top brass from the Secretary of Defense on down to his local commander should be court-martialed.

      This is the cover story, folks, and we probably don't want to know what really happened.

      I don't think it's a conspiracy or anything that he was caught... he probably leaked the stuff... but are these docs THAT big a deal if a 21 year old part timer in a state Guard unit has access to them? Maybe the Pentagon is handing out Secret clearances like candy these days. Many moons ago when I was in, they were more restrictive about who got access to what.

      • Back when Manning and Snowden were in the news, the stat that got floated around is that about a million people had top secret clearances in the US.

        • Re: He's a patsy (Score:5, Informative)

          by omnichad ( 1198475 ) on Thursday April 13, 2023 @06:17PM (#63447922) Homepage

          Clearance does not always mean access. Those are separate things. You should still have to have a need to know before you have access. Clearance just means you're vetted and not believed to be a threat of leaking the data to bad people.

          • You'd think so...but here we are:

            https://www.nytimes.com/2023/0... [nytimes.com]

            A high school diploma, a year of training, and a year later he's got access to anything and everything under the Sun to impress his gamer buddies with.

          • Ding Ding Correct. My bet is cost cutting, He is a gopher to pick stuff off the printer and deliver it to someone important. If IT he may also be the printer toner dude and binder. And you will be amazed at what is printed out and not collected - any classification. That usually was a cakewalk if you got caught. Way back in the day, the photocopier guy was the most important guy, getting out last minute briefing notes and press soundbites on 24 hour call. Some say documents are classified according to how e
      • I read somewhere today that there are about a million top secret clearances issued.

        If true, and not made up by ChatGPT or Russian troll farm... then... Doh!
        • Yes there are quite a few top secret clearances given. I've never had one although I have worked for the navy department. However, having a clearance doesn't mean you can just rummage through classified information. In addition to having a clearance, you have to have a need to know before given access to specific things. Even if you have top secret clearance you won't be able to go places or access things unless somebody with decision making authority deems that you need to know.
    • It sounds like usual US military tactics, find a patsy to distract from failures. It actually doesn't say he leaked the data, it says he was the owner of the online group where the data was leaked.
      • "It says he was the owner of the group"...
        That's legal-department inspired CYA language.

        There was also an allegation that pics of the inside of his parents' house on his social media account matched some of the background of the images of some leaked docs. If so, he's majorly screwed.

    • Re: He's a patsy (Score:4, Informative)

      by registrations_suck ( 1075251 ) on Thursday April 13, 2023 @05:57PM (#63447846)

      You can't court martial a Secretary of Defense. As a civilian, that person is not subject to the UCMJ or military court proceedings.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by linuxguy ( 98493 )

      It is possible that he actually didn't have the required military clearance. A superior could have forwarded him a copy. He got picked up because he leaked it to public.

      Anyway, here is apparently what he told his friends when he found out that he is about to face the music.

      "I’m sorry, guys, I prayed every single day that this wouldn't happen"

      Does anybody here think that if he prayed just a little harder, it might have worked?

    • Re:He's a patsy (Score:4, Interesting)

      by ljw1004 ( 764174 ) on Thursday April 13, 2023 @06:15PM (#63447902)

      I have worked in secure environments, and I find it difficult to believe that the military is this incompetent. Bradley Manning (ne Chelsea?) had access to classified footage because he was on active duty working in the theater of operations, but WTH is a national guardsmen doing with strategic level classified documents?

      I read an interesting answer to your question from a commenter on ars technica: https://arstechnica.com/civis/... [arstechnica.com]

      You want the real answers?

      The services that conduct background investigations are swamped. They are unable to complete every required (re)investigation, and have moved to a process called "Continous Evaluation" which runs mainly on automatic processes. They can do reinvestigations, but they've moved to "risk" or "event" driven vice calendar-driven.

      To give you an idea, the last time I spoke to anyone in person about my clearance was ~10 years ago. Otherwise I just filled out the SF86.

      For the questions about "Why do people have access to this information" the answer is simple; through my time in the Navy messaging has moved from standalone systems into SMTP and PKI based systems. The Navy's version is called Command and Control Official Information Exchange (C2OIX) and it's very hard to accurately restrict access within public folders except for very specific messages such as American Red Cross (AMCROSS) or Operational Report-3, better known as Situation Reports.

      Since he was an intelligence analyist he would've had access to a broad range of intelligence probably including access to Sensitive Comparted Information (SCI). I'm not sure how he managed to exfiltrate data, but technical measures are only partially effective and there is a heavily reliance on other personnel in helping to maintain integrity.

      All I can say he's caused unspoken damage to the National Security, is going to prison for a long time, and will probably find it very, very hard to ever find a job.

      • Yes, I get the difficulty in securing systems, but he's in the Air National Guard. The entirety of the Massachusetts ANG doesn't have a need to know. Even if they have the clearance, they shouldn't have the ability to even see that information.

        Yes, we know security is hard. But so is military service, and if there's anything military service has taught me, it is the fact that something is hard is never a reason for dereliction of duty. The fact that he was able to leak it in the first place says all

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by PPH ( 736903 )

      but WTH is a national guardsmen doing with strategic level classified documents?

      From TFS:

      intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard

      This may have something to do with it. He may have to handle this sort of information as part of his job. On the other hand, a friend of mine had a top secret clearance as part of his job in an army military intelligence group. His job was to drive a Jeep and transport locked briefcases of classified documents in Viet Nam. Had one of these briefcases turned up unlocked or tampered with, he'd still be in the stockade today. That's what they meant by 'compartmentalization' back in those days.

    • If an Air National Guard airman has access to strategic level classified information, ALL of the top brass from the Secretary of Defense on down to his local commander should be court-martialed.

      Top secret information is disseminated on a need-to-know basis, and there's no legitimate reason why this airman had any need to know. He should not have had access to the documents in the first place. That he did is an indictment against the entire chain of command.

      Is there any evidence any of the material taken has a classification above secret?

    • Stop noticing things. Clearly this 20 something low level guardsman, who spent most of his free time powning newbs, had top secret clearance.

      All top leaders are beyond reproach, smart, handsome, and well liked by the ladies.

      Now stop asking questions and express a minute of rage at this traitor for exposing a war you didn't know we were spending
      billions to fight and lose.

    • Your assessment is exactly correct. Why would this person have access to such data to begin with? We either do not have the full story (very likely) or the entire chain of command needs to placed in front of a military judge.

    • According to reports the guy was in cyber intelligence, so for all we know he WROTE some of these documents.

  • I miss the good old days (Score:5, Funny)

    by oumuamua ( 6173784 ) on Thursday April 13, 2023 @05:48PM (#63447822)
    Where a Russian sleeper spy leaked the docs
    Or someone released the docs to protest *something*
    Or released the docs to reveal ugly secrets of the military
    But no, we have ideocracy-worthy "impress my discord group"
    • Yeah, is there something in the water (a homeopathic low-dose of Koolaid perhaps) that is massively lowering IQ these days.

      To get a clearance, this guy would have had to have read or been briefed on the penalties for releasing classified information.

      I assume. If not, then the IQ deficit goes further up the command chain.
    • Cue Chi McBride playing Donny Astricky in the movie "Gone in 60 seconds"

      "You lazy, half--expletive- bully! Any -expletive- can pull a put secrets on a message board while spouting racist crap memes! You don't know the first thing about stealing a secrets!.... Boy!.... You need a role model!"

  • Not even 22 (Score:4, Interesting)

    by RightwingNutjob ( 1302813 ) on Thursday April 13, 2023 @05:50PM (#63447826)

    And not even a second lieutenant.

    Kids are precocious now. Back in my day you had to have some stubble on your chin before you could think of violating the espionage act.

  • So...I presume that means we've arrested and will deal similarly with everyone who leaked from the Trump White House, yeah?

  • Considering (taking this all at face value) that a 21 year old had full access to this material, and no one noticed until well after he started posting it online. Well, it is a safe bet that the worldwide intelligence community has got hold of it as well, all by themselves.
  • The article is really trying to paint these people as some sort of Cabal of online racist and far right extremists. Which I think is really gross and disingenuous.

  • This is what happens when you send a boy to do a man's job. These children think they are only talking to their 10 friends when they post something on the internet.

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