How teen unearthed a huge cache of top secret Pentagon files while playing one of the world’s most famous computer games
IT started when a teenager searching for Minecraft tips in an online chat room found himself messaging an anonymous stranger.
Their nerdy banter revolved around the intricacies of the video game which obsesses youngsters across the globe.
But when the chat took a brief, tangential turn towards the war in Ukraine, the stranger casually said: “Here, have some leaked documents.”
Seconds later a swathe of apparently genuine, top-secret US government information flashed up in the gaming nerd’s inbox.
This was one of the first sightings of the Pentagon Papers — leaked from the supposedly secure nerve centre of the US intelligence community.
And the bizarre online revelation has since snowballed into the most serious national security crisis the US has faced in years.
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Disclosures of treacherous deeds dragged from under America’s flimsy cloak of secrecy continued to stun the world yesterday.
Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old US airman, was last night named as the leaker as the FBI confirmed it had made an arrest.
News footage showed a man believed to be Teixeira being placed into the back of a military vehicle in handcuffs.
Revelations brought to light so far — which have yet to be verified by intelligence agencies struggling to limit the damage — include:
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- Ukraine is desperately short of anti-aircraft missiles — which may delay President Volodymyr Zelensky’s plans for a spring offensive.
- Spooks from the US National Security Agency have been spying on their own allies, including Zelensky, and leaders in Israel and South Korea.
- Britain has the highest number of special forces operatives secretly deployed in Ukraine of any Nato country — with 50 troops among a total force of 97.
- A Russian SU-27 fighter jet launched a missile at a manned RAF reconnaissance plane over the Black Sea in September — and came close to triggering World War Three.
- President Abdel Fattah Sisi of Egypt — a supposed American ally — has personally ordered the secret supply of rockets to Russia.
- Officials from Russia boasted that the United Arab Emirates has agreed to cooperate with them “against US and UK intelligence”.
- America’s Arab allies are being successfully courted by Vladimir Putin and China’s President Xi.
- Serbia — which is considered to be Russia’s close ally — has been secretly arming Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden’s White House was last night bracing itself for further details from the mass leak regarded as the most damaging intelligence disaster since the Wikileaks scandal a decade ago.
But intelligence experts fear the most damaging revelation of all is the simple fact that the US appears to have lost the ability to keep its secrets safe.
The suspected source of the mega-leak of more than 100 highly classified documents was yesterday identified as a gun nut dubbed “OG” who worked on a US military base.
He is believed to be Teixeira, a member of the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard who is thought to be behind an online gang called Thug Shaker, which first circulated the data.
The documents were first shared among a group of 20 to 30 pals on instant-messaging platform Discord.
The oddball group were said to be united by their “mutual love of guns, military gear and God”, and at first shared typed text before sending pictures of actual Pentagon papers.
OG is said to have deliberately set out to sow chaos.
A fellow member of his chat room said: “He’s a smart person. He knew what he was doing when he posted these documents, of course. These weren’t accidental leaks of any kind.”
Powder keg
A 20-year-old British college student known as Wow Mao — whose Discord server hosted the obscure chat room where the leaks first appeared — was also embroiled in the probe last night.
The gamer usually posts eccentric political comments, which have earned him 250,000 YouTube followers.
But he yesterday poured scorn on suggestions that he was to blame for detonating the powder keg of sensitive papers online.
British-Filipino Wow Mao admitted he found it “hilarious” the documents were leaked on his server.
He said: “We’re definitely not at the centre of this leak but my server was how a lot of people saw those documents for the first time.
“It was just spread on to the nerdiest parts of the internet.
“That’s the kind of people who would find these documents — losers. That’s who the US government really has to fear.
“Any publicity’s good publicity, I guess, as long as I don’t land in prison.”
British defence chiefs were less amused last night amid fears that the leaks on special forces deployment in Ukraine could endanger lives.
Defence select committee chairman Tobias Ellwood said: “It will come as no surprise that our special forces are doing much of the heavy lifting.
“But this deliberate large-scale disclosure of sensitive material could easily endanger lives and should prompt an urgent review about who has access to sensitive information.”
Defence chiefs have also been alarmed by the leak on the potentially catastrophic clash between an RAF RC-135 Rivet Joint surveillance aircraft and a Russian SU-27 fighter.
They had previously played down the incident as an accidental missile launch — not a deliberate act of war.
But the Pentagon Papers revealed a blundering Russian pilot mistakenly believed a radar operator gave him permission to attack the British jet on September 29 last year.
The missile was fired and would have downed the surveillance plane with up to 30 crew on board — but missed by pure luck owing to a technical fault on launch.
Leaked documents described the missile attack as “near shootdown of a UK RJ”.
Analysts said Nato may have been forced to enter the Ukraine conflict if the attack on one of its member states had succeeded — triggering World War Three.
Assess the damage
The US Justice Department and FBI have opened a criminal probe into the leaks while Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is leading an inquiry to assess the damage.
The unverified papers were said to include a list of names of CIA spies working in Ukraine — making them targets for assassination.
Illicit disclosures are also said to have strained relations between Nato allies last night.
Ukraine’s hero President Zelensky is said to have been recorded by US spies discussing a plan for a drone attack on Russian army units in Rostov, across the Ukraine border.
US intelligence was also said to have bugged Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and even the office of staunch supporter President Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea.
Since then, South Korea has been forced to deny leaked documents suggesting it acted as a go-between to move ammunition to pass to Ukraine.
Documents also suggest the US has been spying on private communications of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres over concerns that he is too soft on Russia.
In his first public comments on the leaks yesterday, President Biden attempted to play down the crisis.
He declared he was “concerned that it happened — but there’s nothing that I’m aware of that is consequential”.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence was also battling to limit damage, warning that the documents circulated contained a “serious level of inaccuracy”.
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An official said: “A significant proportion of the content of these reports is untrue, manipulated or both.
“We strongly caution against anybody taking the veracity of these claims at face value and would also advise them to take time to question the source and purpose of such leaks.”ᐧ
