How Discord Billing Records Helped Unmask the Suspect Behind Pentagon Document Leak

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The FBI recently used information from an Internet social media platform to find out that a man in Massachusetts was leaking confidential military documents. His name is Jack Teixeira and he went to court this Friday to deal with the charges. The judge said he has to stay in jail until his next court hearing next week.

Hello everyone! Here is breaking news: someone from Massachusetts Air National Guards was taken into custody for leaking top-secret military documents, and did arrive in court on Friday. The Department of Justice will give more information about this case in the upcoming days.

This week, a 21-year-old named Jack Teixeira was arrested by police officers with special weapons and equipment. This happened because he released secret information about the war in Ukraine, how powerful other countries are, and other topics that are very important to national security.

The Justice Department is set to release a document with more information about the charges against someone called Teixeira. He’s being charged with breaking the law by taking or sharing secret info related to national defense. When he arrived at court, he was wearing jail clothes and his hands were cuffed. His lawyer was with him in court too.

Investigators think Teixeira was the head of a chat group where secrets were shared online. The reason why this happened is still unknown but people from the chat group say Teixeira did it for bragging rights rather than for any beliefs he has.

Since this news broke out last week, the Biden administration has been quickly trying to fix any potential problems that could be caused by the leaked documents both diplomatically and militarily.

These documents were kept secret and not validated by U.S. officials yet. They contain information like where the Ukrainian military are located, global help for Ukraine, what might make Russian President Vladimir Putin use nuclear weapons among other important topics.

It is thought that a leak of secret information started on Discord, which is a website specific to gamers and those who share funny images. It’s where Teixeira has posted for years about things like guns, video games, and memes. People who talked with him said he had kept U.S. government secrets safe as well. Discord has stated it will help with the investigation of this leak.

Earlier, a person reported in the Associated Press spoke about this group called “Thug Shaker Central”. It had about two dozen people who used to talk about guns, share funny images & jokes (some of them were kind of racist though!). They also talked a lot about wars and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The O.G. posted things for months that he claimed were “classified”. He typed out his info with his own markings but then switched to posting images of crumpled-up papers because he felt like his writings were not being taken seriously. One anonymous member, who did not want to share their name with the AP, shared this information.

It was not known how Teixeira got the documents, but an official with the Department of Defense told Big Big News on Thursday that since he is a tech expert for military communication networks, he had higher access clearance.

After someone got arrested, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Pentagon must look at all the ways they protect their intelligence so that no one can leak it again like this.