People in the online spaces where Airman First Class Jack Teixeira allegedly leaked highly classified documents had many things in common. In obscure game forums and private online chat rooms, his friends posted slurs against minority communities, Ukrainians and everyone else except Russians, reports the Wall Street Journal. Members of the small community hosted on the social-media app Discord admired President Putin's regime and its war on Ukraine. Airman Teixeira was arrested by federal agents and is charged with unlawfully taking and sharing briefing materials for high-level civilian and military leaders.
Charging documents showed little about why the 21-year-old low-level analyst from a small town in Massachusetts allegedly stole and shared details of U.S. surveillance of adversaries and allies. The leak put into public view material that could undermine Ukraine’s fight against Russia. Language used in social-media posts of the group’s members criticizing everybody from Black, gay, and trans people to Jews and Ukrainians. As federal authorities began closing in, Teixeira appears to have purged much of his online presence,. The Journal attempted to reconstruct his activities from web archives. They reveal a young man with an intense interest in weapons and videogames—and the places where both converged. Handles associated with Teixeira had accounts on websites dedicated to collecting weapons and swapping tactical gear. He was fascinated wih the minutiae of weapons and armaments used in famous battles. “He was just really into the whole, like, gun and war thing, more than, like, normal people were,” said Brooke Cleathero, 21, a high school classmate.
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