US data breach – FBI arrests 21-year-old National Guardsman

The FBI of the Federal Police has arrested a suspect in its investigation into the publication of explosive information from the US Secret Service on the internet. The man was taken into custody in connection with the “unauthorized removal, storage and disclosure of classified information,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in Washington on Thursday. He is a member of the National Guard and his name is Jack T.

The man was arrested Thursday afternoon (local time) in North Dighton, Massachusetts. The TV channel CNN showed video footage of the arrest. There you saw emergency services take away a young man in a T-shirt and shorts. American media previously spread the first details about the alleged mole. The man is said to have led a chat group on the Discord platform popular with video gamers. He initially shared the explosive documents with the group as copies and later uploaded photos of printed documents there. According to the media, he is 21 years old. Garland did not mention an age.

For weeks, secret documents from US agencies – supposedly from the CIA and the Pentagon – about the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine have been circulating on the Internet: information about arms deliveries, assessments of what is happening in the war. But also details of alleged American espionage against partners. It is unclear what is authentic and what might have been edited. For the US government, however, the matter is somehow as inconvenient as possible. Questions arise about how trustworthy Americans are, how well they protect their secrets and those of their partners, and how loyal they are to allies.

American media first reported the leak shortly before Easter without publishing the documents themselves. According to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, he only found out about the data breach about a week ago – even though the material had been floating around the web for weeks. After that, the government rotated to placate partners and, above all, to find the leak. The Ministry of Justice has launched an investigation. And that led to the arrest.

The “Washington Post” had previously released extensive details about the alleged mole, which some dubbed “OG”. About two dozen young people with a penchant for weapons and military equipment had gathered in his chat group. The group was founded in 2020 during the corona pandemic. “OG” was described there as a charismatic gun geek with dark views on the US government, intelligence community and law enforcement agencies.

Others in the group would have admired him. “He’s fit. He’s strong. He’s armed. He’s trained. Pretty much everything you’d want from a crazy movie,” said one of the members. “OG” told the group he obtained the documents at a military base where he worked. There, he said, he spent parts of the day in a secure facility where mobile phones and other electronic devices that could be used to take photos or videos were prohibited. That is why he initially copied the documents. He posted his messages to the group throughout the winter. It was probably about “bragging to his friends” as well as informing them, according to one member of the group.

According to the paper, when copying proved too tedious, he began posting photos of previously printed documents — clearly taking a great risk of getting caught because such photos gave investigators clues. The New York Times wrote that details of the interior of the 21-year-old’s childhood home, which were published in family photos posted on social media, matched details in the margins of some photos of the published secret documents.

According to the Washington Post, the young man had become frustrated because the other members of the group were not paying enough attention to his revelations.

Ex-Intelligence Coordinator James Clapper told CNN it sounds to him like this “OG” shares a certain “level of narcissism” with other whistleblowers before him. “There’s an ego element to feeling important about yourself by accessing and revealing such material.”

“OG” stopped sharing documents with the chat group in mid-March, the Washington Post continued. The reason was that someone from the circle – to which users from Russia and Ukraine would have belonged – had placed documents in another group at the end of February, thereby breaking the agreed confidentiality. In early April, just before the New York Times reported the leak, OG seemed desperate. “He said something happened and he prays to God that it doesn’t happen,” the paper quoted a minor member of the group as saying.

According to the newspaper, there is no clear picture of the motivation of “OG”. Despite his gloomy views, he was not hostile to the US government, it said. According to the chat users, he was also not a Russian or Ukrainian agent. (sda/dpa)