“He wanted to show off a bit” – friend of the Pentagon leaker unpacks

What happened?

Last Thursday, the first reports of leaked intelligence documents from the US authorities surfaced. Where there was initially talk of a fake, the US Department of Defense reported relatively quickly that an investigation into the leak had been launched. This may indicate that at least parts of the published documents are genuine.

The content is explosive and covers a broad spectrum. One of the core themes is the war in Ukraine. Included are information on U.S. arms shipments, troop strength, and losses from both belligerents, as well as unit locations and ammunition consumption information.

However, parts of the documents also address other geopolitical issues. As reported by the research network “Bellingcat”, Britain’s views and plans and information about the actors in the war in Yemen are also noted.

However, versions or portions of the documents circulate on the Internet that have subsequently been modified and improved to benefit the Kremlin. In certain versions, Russian casualty rates are extremely low, while Ukrainian ones are significantly higher.

Who is behind the leak now?

The “Washington Post” now wants to find out that the leaker is a man in his early twenties who “works at a military base”. The man was the “leader” of a Discord group that originally split off from a larger group of gun enthusiasts to discuss and be together in peace.

The group, which the alleged leaker ran under the pseudonym “OG”, emerged during the 2020 corona pandemic as a kind of haven for (mainly underage, male) gamers. A member of the group, who was in close contact with the alleged perpetrator, explained this to the Washington Post.

The server name, “Thug Shaker Central” (a racist innuendo), is significant: memes and hurtful (sometimes racist) jokes were shared across the various channels, people watched movies together and also prayed together, the underage member says. But it wasn’t a “fascist recruiting server”.

The minor describes OG as his “best friend”, “like an uncle” or even as a father figure at another time. The group, but especially OG, helped him through depressive phases and kept him emotional. It was like a close-knit family on the server. The interview shows the member’s admiration for the alleged leaker:

But OG was also strict: he set up a sort of “pecking order” and got angry when his demands weren’t met.

In a video that the member says is supposed to show OG and was obtained by the Washington Post, the alleged leaker can be seen at a shooting range. Armed with a pistol, goggles and a pamir, he lets out a series of racist and anti-Semitic shouts before firing at the targets.

Why did he leak the documents?

In 2022, OG will put classified content on the server for the first time. First he typed the documents in the chat, which was a laborious job, reports his underage acquaintance. More such messages were posted to the server at regular intervals for months. OG himself wrote that he took the information home from his “job on a military base”.

But most of the 25 or so members didn’t understand what they were looking at, or simply weren’t interested, the member said. OG got angry when his posts didn’t get more attention; after all, he spent hours each day typing and explaining the technical jargon. So he changed his strategy and immediately posted pictures of the documents. But what drove him to do it anyway?

However, the member emphasizes that OG is by no means a whistleblower. He just wanted to keep his friends “up to date”. He is certainly not a Russian or Ukrainian spy.

The channel where OG posted the documents is called “Bear vs Pig”. A paraphrase of the conflict in Ukraine, intended to indicate that OG is not committed to either side of the war.

In the end, the suspected perpetrator just wanted to brag a bit, the member suspects:

It was just a mixture of boasting among friends and a desire to protect the group. OG even had a bad government image. According to the member, he had repeatedly spoken of the US and the security forces in particular as “dark forces” that oppress and keep their citizens in the dark. There was also talk of “government overreach”, that is, authorities crossing legal boundaries.

He claimed that prior to the May 2022 Buffalo massacre, the government knew that a “white supremacist” was planning mass murder. However, the tragedy was deliberately allowed in order to then advocate for increased security spending. OG had not proven its claim. But she left an impression on the young member of the potential perpetrator’s deep insights into official corruption.

However, OG was not hostile to his own government.

What’s next for him?

Had the documents remained on the server and in the group (which includes members from Russia, Ukraine, and East Asia), OG might never have run into trouble.

However, another underage user of the “Thug Shaker Central” server posted several documents to a third-party server in late February. A good week later they appear on another server, and in early April the documents are sent via Telegram to 4chan’s platform and from there to Twitter.

On April 5, shortly before the “New York Times” became the first major medium to report on the leaks, OG, uncharacteristically for him, appeared on his server in a panic: “He said something happened that he prayed to God about if it didn’t happen… But now it’s in God’s hands,” the member recalls.

OG is fully aware of what is happening and what the consequences may mean for him. He seemed “pretty desperate.” After all, the documents were never intended for the public, but only for his little Discord “family”.

In fact, the alleged leaker took a big risk by publishing the photos of the documents: the photos show small details from his daily life. A glue stick, nail scissors, bedding or manuals – all items that can give investigators clues to his identity.

In addition, printers in secure U.S. facilities kept logs of the prints, and some of the paperwork had invisible markings to track it. The Wall Street Journal reports this on Thursday. However, the paper drew attention to another point: The story surrounding Discord could also be the maneuver of an advanced adversary to mislead investigators, the paper wrote, citing former defense officials.

The member who gave the Washington Post information with his mother’s permission knows OG’s real name and where he lives. But he won’t share any of it with the investigators.

(Supplemented with material from the SDA)