Wanted to impress his friends, did he?
Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira, 21, has been arrested by the FBI as the suspect in the leak of hundreds of classified military document to the internet (Washington Post):
The leak, probably the military’s largest in at least a decade, has revealed secrets about everything from gaps in Ukrainian air defenses to the specifics of how the United States spies on its allies and partners.
[…]
The crisis has blindsided the Pentagon, which did not become aware until last week that secrets had for weeks been spreading online, and forced the Biden administration to have awkward conversations with allies and partners about explosive issues. The FBI did not descend on the Teixeira home until after The Post revealed numerous details about the still-anonymous leaker on Wednesday night, and after the New York Times followed up on Thursday by naming Teixeira.
The FBI’s lag in response time may be explainable, but when they did after the press got there first, boy howdy!
He’s from a patriotic family — and allegedly leaked U.S. secrets, reads the Post headline.
The irony is not lost on you, Dear Readers, nor is it on Jeff Sharlet.
“At this late date this headline—structured to suggest these facts are at odds—constitutes mind-numbing know-nothingism at best and more likely journalistic malpractice,” Sharlet tweeted this morning.
Teixeira was the leader of an online chat group who uploaded hundreds of photographs of secret and top-secret documents, according to the New York Times. The online group called itself Thug Shaker Central, made up of 20 to 30 young men and teenagers who shared their love of guns, racist memes and video games.
Members of the group have told the investigative journalism organisation Bellingcat, the Washington Post and the New York Times that the documents were shared on Thug Shaker Central in an apparent attempt to impress the group, rather than to achieve any particular foreign policy outcome.
Unless you’ve not had your second cup this morning, the young lad’s need to impress people by showing off top-secret materials to friends more than echoes the behavior for which a certain former head of state is under federal investigation. The FBI’s response in that stolen documents case was also a mite tardy. That one took months, and there’s still no arrest.
The photo above of Teixeira’s apprehension prompts a question: Why hasn’t Donald J. Trump received this kind of prompt, official escort? He was president, after all. Did he not also abscond with secret documents (allegedly) to show off to friends and resort guests? Is he not a patriot? Why the disrespect, DOJ?
