The Leaked US Treasury Documents: Joe Biden’s Foreign Trip to Dublin Castle and the Pentagon Searches for State Intelligence

President Joe Biden was thought to have said that the US government was close to identifying the leaker. The US official said that Biden was briefed on the arrest before he left for Dublin Castle for the banquet dinner. He stayed at the hotel for 90 minutes after the two events.

As a result of the investigation, as well as the efforts of his top officials to communicate with allies who have been identified within, Biden has been regularly briefed, according to one official. One official acknowledged that Biden’s foreign trip had been made more personal by reality behind the scenes.

The FBI is interviewing several people who they believe could be responsible for the leaks, according to two people briefed on the matter. While there is more than one person who had access to the documents, investigators have been able to look at a small number for clues due to the trail left by the person who posted them. People familiar with the matter say investigators are working on a case for prosecution.

Jeffrey Castro, a spokesman for the army Criminal Investigation Division, tells CNN that their division is assisting the Pentagon in their investigation of the leak. It is unclear if the alleged leaker works for the US Army.

On Wednesday, The Washington Post first reported that the person behind the leak worked on a military base and posted sensitive national security secrets in an online group of acquaintances. The leaker was described in the Post story as a lonely young man and gun enthusiast who was part of a chatroom of about two dozen people on Discord – a social media platform popular with video gamers – that shared a love of guns and military gear, according to a friend of the alleged leaker the Post interviewed who was also part of the group.

The leaker is described in the Post story as a lonely young man and gun enthusiast who was part of a chatroom of about two dozen people on Discord – a social media platform popular with video gamers – that shared a love of guns and military gear, according to a friend of the alleged leaker the Post interviewed who was also part of the group.

The documents were discovered by the Pentagon last week. The US tried to spy on Russia and its allies as well as details about the Russia-Ukraine war. One of the leaked documents reveals that Serbia may have supplied the Ukraine with lethal aid, which might cause diplomatic issues with Russia.

The Pentagon has begun to limit who across the government receives its highly classified daily intelligence briefs following a major leak of classified information discovered last week.

Some US officials who used to receive the briefing materials daily have stopped receiving them in recent days, sources familiar with the matter told CNN, as the Pentagon’s Joint Staff continues to whittle down its distribution lists.

The Joint Staff, which comprises the Defense Department’s most senior uniformed leadership that advises the president, began examining its distribution lists immediately after learning of the trove of leaked classified documents – many of which had markings indicating that they had been produced by the Joint Staff’s intelligence arm, known as the J2.

The Pentagon reviews a variety of factors as it relates to protecting classified materials. Examining and updating distribution lists, as well as assessing how and Where intelligence products are shared, are part of the process.

The FBI Washington field office is leading the criminal investigation with the help of a team that specializes in hunting leaks.

Those investigators are also working with Pentagon officials on the damage assessment, which would become part of the evidence to be used in any potential prosecution that results.

The FBI exposes the most dangerous spy in the history of the U.S., after the 9/11 9/11 confrontation with Robert Hanssen

When FBI tactical agents wielding assault rifles confronted Robert Hanssen one Sunday evening in 2001, the most dangerous spy in US history was finally put out of service.

Hanssen, a senior FBI special agent at the time, had just finished stashing a trove of classified documents under a bridge in Virginia that was intended to later be collected by his Russian handlers.

The case of former CIA officer Aldrich Ames, who was arrested seven years ago by the FBI after passing information for years that led to the execution of many Russians working for the US government, is just like that of the accused leakers, who were also arrested after being accused of leaking information

The launching of congressional and inspector general investigations aimed at determining how the US intelligence community could have been vulnerable to compromise is what happens after a successful mole hunt.

The arrest of Jack Teixeira, 21, comes following a fast-moving search by the US government for the identity of the leaker who posted classified documents to a social media platform popular with video gamers.

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence wrote about weaknesses in the CIA’s procedures for dealing with employees under scrutiny for compromising intel operations in a 1994 report.

Before Hanssen was exposed, then-FBI Director Robert Mueller said, “security was not a principle priority. There was no security division. The FBI didn’t have enough expertise. We moved to address that.”

More recent espionage cases, including that of former Army private Chelsea Manning, unearthed vulnerabilities posed by the fact numerous individuals have almost free range access to US secrets. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison after she leaked secrets while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq.

An Army forensic specialist testified that source code on Manning’s computer referenced hundreds of thousands of secret documents, and in some cases the full documents themselves.

Another major issue pertains to how classified information is distributed to military and intelligence personnel. In order to do their job, national security officials must be able to access raw and analyzed intelligence. The intelligence community believes that information only be accessible to people with a “need to know” and that access to the nation’s secrets is not limited to those with security clearances.

When an unauthorized device is inserted into a government system, scanning technology alert agency security personnel, which is a common practice.

So-called User Activity Monitoring capabilities have also been deployed to track the browsing habits of those with access to classified systems. These measures include robust monitoring of searches made in classified databases, information downloaded, and documents that are printed or copied. The intelligence community employees have no expectation of privacy but users receive standardized log-in notifications that advise them that their every movement on the system is subject to monitoring.

Although much is still not publicly known about Teixeira’s level of clearance and his US government background investigation, one major issue for the Defense Department pertains to how often and robustly counterintelligence officials scrutinize employees with access to information on an ongoing basis. While agencies like FBI and CIA require polygraphs for all employees when hired, and again throughout their careers during periodic reinvestigations, polygraphs are not mandatory for some Defense Department personnel who have Top Secret clearances.

Many have scrutinized the legitimacy and foolproof nature of the polygraph exam, but intelligence community officials believe, at the very least, it helps serve as a deterrent for improper disclosures if employees know they will be subjected to periodic exams.

Despite initial efforts to stanch the unauthorized flow of classified secrets, congressional investigators have already begun placing the Pentagon in the crosshairs of aggressive oversight.

Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, told Jake Tapper that the system and process which failed in a very substantial way was the reason behind Thursday’s arrest. And that’s where Congress comes in. Our job is oversight, and we will be doing it.

The FBI and Discord investigation of the incident that George W. Teixeira was arrested in connection with a Russian citizen’s leaking of classified documents

The documents were initially found with apparent alterations, like a file on one Telegram channel suggesting that Ukraine had lost more soldiers in the war with Russia than what was documented. Later investigations determined that unaltered versions had been posted earlier than previously believed and were then spread to other channels by third parties. The documents may have been posted as far back as January.

The original leaker, known asOG, was also the administrator of the private Discord server, where he also served as a speaker. The suspect initially posted typed up versions of the documents to the server, but later transitioned to sharing actual photos with the group after they became frustrated with their lack of interaction with them. According to The New York Times, the FBI made a connection to the subject of the photos thanks to the interior décor of the photographs.

During a press conference on Thursday, Department of Defense press secretary Patrick Ryder declined to comment on how many documents were leaked, while stating that law enforcement is still investigating. Ryder also added that Discord is cooperating with the Department of Justice’s investigation, which the company publicly announced on Wednesday. The Verge requested a comment from Discord, but they did not reply immediately.

“We have safeguards in place, we have processes, we have procedures, and will continue to do due diligence as part of this review to ensure that we’re doing everything we can to prevent potential unauthorized disclosures in the future, recognizing that again, this was a criminal, deliberate act,” Ryder said.

A member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard was arrested by the FBI on Thursday in connection with the leaking of classified documents that have been posted online, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday.

A US government source familiar with the case said that for at least a couple of days before he was arrested, Teixeira was being watched by the FBI.

“The FBI is continuing to conduct authorized law enforcement activity at the residence,” the agency said. Since late last week, the FBI has aggressively pursued investigative leads, and today’s arrest exemplifies our continued commitment to identifying and holding accountable those who betray our nation’s trust and endanger our national security.

Airborne Journeyman Teixeira: A Journeyman With a Passion for Military, Guns, and War in the ‘U.S. Government’

The Air Force revealed Thursday that Teixeira is an enlisted airman at the Massachusetts Air National Guard. He joined the service in September 2019 and his official job is Cyber Transport Systems journeyman. According to the Air Force, Cyber Transport Systems specialists are tasked with making sure the service’s “vast, global communications network” is “operating properly.”

Several former high school classmates told CNN that he had a fascination with military, guns, and war. He would sometimes wear camouflage to school, carried a “dictionary-sized book on guns,” and behaved in a way that made some fellow students feel uneasy.

John Powell, who was a student at middle and high school with Teixeira, said he was always quiet and pleasant to the people around him. He said that he didn’t have many friends.

Teixeira grew up in the suburbs of Providence, Rhode Island, according to public records. He attended Dighton-Rehoboth High School where he graduated in 2020, according to the superintendent of the regional school district.

One of the people that attended the class said that he made them nervous, but that he didn’t behave in a way that made people want to report him.

The same student said she took his fascination with the military as a form of American nationalism, and was therefore surprised by the allegations against him. “I didn’t think he would be capable of doing something like this,” she said.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/13/politics/us-government-intel-leak

A State-Inspection of the Airborne Intelligence Observations from the Air National Guardsman’s Rearrection

The Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security was instructed by the Defense Secretary to review intelligence access following the arrest of the Air National Guardsman.