US on Friday made the first arrest in the Pentagon document leak case.
The FBI arrested the suspect, 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, who is a member of the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.
FBI agents converged at Teixeira’s Massachusetts home and heavily armed tactical agents took Teixeira, who was wearing a T-shirt and shorts, into custody outside the property, “without incident,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
Investigators believe that the guardsman, who specializes in intelligence, led the online chat group where the documents were posted.
Garland said Teixeira will be charged with the unauthorised removal of classified national defense information.
The emergence of Teixeira as the apparent primary suspect is bound to raise questions about how the highest-profile intelligence leak in years, one that continues to unfold with almost daily revelations of highly classified documents, could have been caused by such a young, low-ranking service member.
The Joe Biden administration has been scrambling to assess the diplomatic and national security consequences of the leaked documents since they were first reported last week.
Pentagon had earlier called the leaks a “very serious security risk.”
With inputs from agencies
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