Pentagon document leaker read book on his patio moments before his arrest – as feds say they didn’t detain the gun nut earlier because he was under surveillance and they wanted to avoid an armed standoff
- Jack Teixeira, 21, was pictured reading a book on his porch before his arrest
- FBI were surveilling him for days but had to move in when NYT reporters arrived
A Massachusetts member of the National Guard suspected of leaking military intelligence was pictured in aerial footage calmly reading a book on his porch as an armored vehicle crawled discreetly up his driveway.
Video recorded by Boston-based news channel WCBV captured the moment 21-year-old Jack Teixeira was brought into custody just moments after reporters from the New York Times had tried to knock on his front door.
Although FBI agents had refrained from moving in on him, they had been surveilling Teixeira for at least a couple of days before his arrest, but feared an armed confrontation with the gun enthusiast, government sources have revealed.
They were therefore forced into making a premature move on the alleged leaker as journalist also surrounded his home – on foot, with drones and with helicopters.
Jack Teixeira, 21, was pictured in aerial footage calmly reading a book on his porch as an armored vehicle crawled discreetly up his driveway
FBI agents had been surveilling Teixeira for at least a couple of days before his arrest, but refrained from making a move for fear of a gunfight as he was rumored to have guns
Once news broke that highly classified materials detailing US military strategy in Ukraine were circulating on internet meme groups, a race was born between federal agencies and reporters to identify the source.
Some have criticized the FBI because journalists sleuthing the internet seemed to solve the case faster than the bureau did, but officials now suggest they were just waiting for the right moment to descend.
‘The FBI certainly did not like being in a race with reporters,’ said John Miller, CNN’s Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst.
Within the last week reporters from the New York Times and the Washington Post, most notably, have been infiltrating niche internet groups and interviewing members in the hopes of identifying the culprit behind the leaks.
Just an hour and a half before his arrest, the Times published Teixeira’s name.
CNN broadcast aerial footage of Teixeira’s arrest after he was named by the New York Times earlier on Thursday
Miller says the FBI had been eying up Teixeira for a while.
‘They have been closing in on Teixeira for a few days. The investigation is only five days old. His father’s home and his mom’s residence were both under surveillance,’ he said.
‘What they wanted to do was arrest him when he went to work at the military base where he was assigned. That would have been a controlled environment. But he didn’t go to work today.
‘Not knowing his mental state, going up against a trained military person in a house with weapons was not an ideal scenario.’
Some Teixeira’s peers and colleagues revealed to CNN that Teixeira had a longstanding fascination with the military, well before he had become a Guardsman.
Jack Teixeira, 21-year-old National Guard member, was arrested by FBI officials on Thursday for leaking classified US intelligence documents relating to the war in Ukraine
‘His social media posts indicated he owned a significant number of weapons including military-style assault weapons and, of course, he has received military training in those weapons,’ said Miller.
As such, officials were concerned that if he felt cornered a gunfight could ensue.
But then, when the New York Times reporters brazenly approached the his front door, the FBI made the decision to make the move.
‘The surveillance teams were literally watching New York Times reporters showing up at the door of the house. The suspect’s name was in the Times and that was out on social media – so the FBI made the decision to move in,’ he said.
Two members of the chat room described Teixeira to the The Washington Post on Wednesday night.
‘He’s fit. He’s strong. He’s armed. He’s trained. Just about everything you can expect out of some sort of crazy movie,’ one of the members said.
He described him as ‘a young, charismatic man who loves nature, God, shooting guns and racing cars.’
Amid an intense search for the source of the leaks, The Washington Post reported they had seen video and photos of the man, as well as recordings of his interactions with members of the group.
The inside of Teixeira’s childhood home in Bristol, Massachusetts, matched photos of the sensitive files on US intelligence and the Ukraine war which have been shared on forums since the end of last year, according to the Times
This document appears to show the state of Ukraine’s air defenses in February and in May, when it is anticipated they’ll be badly depleted
In a video seen by The Post, the man is seen at a shooting range with a large rifle, wearing safety glasses and ear coverings. The man looks into the camera and yells racists and anti-Semitic insults, then fires multiple rounds at a target.
News helicopter footage was broadcast of his arrest on Thursday and showed the suspect in red shorts, with his hands behind his back, being placed by heavily-armed agents into an unmarked SUV.
The FBI said in a statement that its officers are ‘continuing to conduct authorized law enforcement activity at the residence’ where he was arrested.
Brandon Van Grack, a former Justice Department national security prosecutor now with the law firm Morrison Foerster, said the likely charges could carry up to 10 years’ imprisonment, even if Teixeira did not intend to cause harm.
‘I think this is someone who is facing on the higher end of exposure for years in prison because the leaks were so damaging,’ Van Grack said.
His arrest comes after President Joe Biden said during the third day of his Ireland trip that investigators were ‘getting closer’ to finding out the source.
Biden also said he wasn’t ‘concerned’ about the sharing of the documents that threatened to risk American assets around the world because the information is not ‘contemporaneous’
The intelligence included in the files have included information suggesting Ukraine will soon run out of artillery and potentially risking U.S. intelligence sources around the world.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that rules on access to classified documents could be tightened as a result of the leak.
He said he would ‘not hesitate to take any additional measures necessary to safeguard our nation’s secrets.’
‘Every US service member, (Department of Defense) civilian and contractor with access to classified information has a solemn legal and moral obligation to safeguard it and to report any suspicious activity or behavior,’ he said.
Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder went further than Austin, calling the leak of classified information a ‘deliberate, criminal act.’
And hours after Teixeira’s arrest, Mike Turner, the Republican congressman who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, vowed to ‘examine why this happened, why it went unnoticed for weeks, and how to prevent future leaks.’
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