Who is 'Jack the Leaker'? How needle of suspicion had pointed at Teixeira
Airman in the Massachusetts Air National Guard Jack Teixeira, 21, was arrested in a probe into the case of leaked military intelligence, says FBI. Teixeira appeared in court for the first time on Friday facing charges of unauthorizedly retaining and transmitting national defense information and unauthorizedly removing and retaining classified documents.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), on Thursday, made an arrest related to the leak of US military intelligence documents, When a 21-year-old member of the US Air Force National Guard was taken into custody “without incident”. Pentagon officials said they were still assessing the scale and scope of the leak of the classified information on the war in Ukraine, and on its US allies.
An online sleuthing group, Bellingcat, the New York Times and the FBI jointly followed ‘digital breadcrumbs’ leading to a negligent Teixeira who had left a train of breadcrumbs which resulted in his identity being revealed.
A ‘breadcrumb trail’ is a graphical control element used as a navigational aid in user interfaces and on web pages. It allows users to keep track and be aware of their locations within programs, documents, owebsites. Teixeira was charged with unauthorizedly retaining and transmitting national defense information and unauthorizedly removing and retaining classified documents.
Officials have repeatedly warned, however, that some of the documents had been doctored and may be used in disinformation campaigns.On April 9, Bellingcat publicly identified the Discord server where Teixeira allegedly posted the classified documents. The New York Times reportedly matched Texeira’s kitchen where the documents were allegedly photographed to Texeira’s social media profile. Adding intrigue to the already deepening mystery, the Times said its journalists were gathered at the Texeira home in Dighton, Massachusetts when a 6-man-strong FBI team barged into his residence.
The court affidavit signed on Friday by FBI special agent Patrick Lueckenhoff reveals that the investigators were parallelly pushing ahead with their own line of probe and had already honed in on the suspect.
On top of the Thug Shaker Central group, copies of some of the documents surfaced on another Discord server of well-known YouTuber Wow Mao. Other than Teixeira sharing them, others may have picked them up, exposing themselves and by implication, the suspect himself, much beyond the close-knit group of 20-odd users of the original Discord group. There onwards, the leaked papers surface on online Right-wing message board 4chan and smaller Telegram constituents, including one that had an edited image with incorrect casualty figures.
THE LOCATION OF THE DOCUMENTS
OVER THE PAST FEW WEEKS, the leaked documents have showed up on many social media platforms. Independent investigative news portal Bellingcat said the papers were likely to have been posted initially on lesser-known Internet sites, including a popular messaging board for gaming buffs. Closer scrutiny followed after it was found that they were posted more widely to the far-Right noticeboard, 4chan, and pro-Russian messaging groups on Telegram.
According to the Times, most of the documents looked like they had been folded to fit smaller dimensions before being taken away. It is extremely likely that they were taken out of their location and stuffed into a pocket or a briefcase.
WHAT DID THE PAPERS REVEAL?
- Ukraine’s Air Defence is at Risk: Ukraine is, at present, using the Soviet-era S-300 and Bulk air defence systems to battle the Russian Air Force. But the leaked papers reveal that the country would likely exhaust its firepower by mid-April or May if it is not supplied with enough munitions. This could provide an impetus to Russia’s war effort, and that country could use its fighter jets and bombers to penetrate Ukraine’s feeble air defence to tilt the outcome of the battle in its favour.
- Ukraine Narrowly Escaped Defeat: The leaked papers reveal that the Russian forces nearly encircled the Ukrainian military in Bakhmut town—the scene of fierce fighting for several months now— in late-February 2023. Ukraine’s Director of Military Intelligence described the situation as “catastrophic”. Another senior-ranking Ukrainian military official said the soldiers’ morale was low at the time as there was not enough ammunition to carry on the fight. The Ukrainian forces did succeed in the end to push away the Russian troops with the help of its elite units, but the strategic cost for Ukraine was extremely high since it has been looking to save its best-trained and equipped soldiers for a counter-offensive that it expects to come in the next few weeks or months.
- Russian Incentive to Destroy Tanks: In an attempt to boost the morale of its soldiers, Russia has been offering huge monetary benefits. The leaked papers revealed, “Financial incentives would be offered for the capture and destruction of foreign tanks, and videos of tanks being destroyed would be widely distributed to reduce the confidence of Ukraine and the West and reassure Russian troops of their ability to overcome this new weaponry.”
LIFE AND TIMES OF TEIXEIRA
VIDEO GRABS SHOWED heavily armed officers in Massachusetts ushering a young man—wearing a grey T-shirt and bright red shorts, his head bowed and hair close-cropped—into a waiting car.
While the authorities have parted with very few details on Teixeira, information about his life started appearing in the US media following his arrest.
Teixeira was a member of the intelligence wing of the state National Guard, says a New York Times report. According to the National Guard’s official Facebook page, says Teixeira was one among many who were promoted to Airman First Class in July 2022. He had joined the Air National Guard in September 2019 as a ‘Cyber Transport Systems Journeyman’. His job was to help in the maintenance of the Air Force’s “vast, global communications network”—be it as a repairman for the network hub at a base in the state, or as a worker laying a fibre-optic cable at an overseas installation.
Teixeira was also the leader of a small gaming chat group on the Discord platform. The Washington Post had earlier reported that the online group was formed in 2020 amid the raging coronavirus pandemic. The two-dozen-odd young men and boys formed a tight-knit group united by their love for military gear, guns and religion. Membership was by invitation only, the Post said.
One member said, “We all grew very close to each other, like a tight-knit family… We depended on each other.” At the centre of that family was Teixeira, whom the members knew as OG.
By Girish Linganna
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Jharkhand horror: Man kills live-in partner, chops body into 40 pieces
Ranchi (PTI): A 25-year-old man, who works as a butcher, allegedly strangled to death his live-in partner and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, was arrested.
The matter came to light after around a fortnight after the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village in Jariagarh police station on November 24.
Bhengra was in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman also from Khunti district, in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything and went back to the southern state without his wife to join her.
"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.
Inspector Ashok Singh who investigated the case said the man worked in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was expert in slicing chicken.
“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand," Singh told PTI.
Singh said that the woman, who was unaware of his marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. After reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man's village.
"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," Singh said.
The woman, however, had informed her mother that she had boarded a train and would be living with her partner, the police officer said.
Following the recovery of body parts, a bag was also found in the forest with the murdered woman's belongings including her Aadhaar card. The mother of the woman was called at the spot and she identified her daughter's belongings.
"The mother suspected the man behind the crime who after being nabbed by the police admitted to chopping the woman into pieces," the official added.
The incident has sent shockwaves among people in the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 still fresh in their memory.
Walker was killed by her live-in partner who chopped her body into pieces before dumping them in the jungle in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.
