We're told:
Teixeira is believed to have been the leader of an online chat group where hundreds of photographs of secret and top-secret documents were first uploaded, from late last year to March. The online group called itself Thug Shaker Central, made up of 20 to 30 young men and teenagers brought together by an enthusiasm for guns, military gear and video games. Racist language was a common feature of the group....
Former members of Thug Shaker Central have told the investigative journalism organisation Bellingcat, the Washington Post and the New York Times that the documents were shared in an apparent attempt to impress the rest of the group, rather than to achieve any particular foreign policy outcome....
According to the teenage member of the Thug Shaker group interviewed by the Washington Post, their leader, who he referred to as OG but is now thought to be Teixeira, “had a dark view of the government”, portraying the government, and particularly law enforcement and the intelligence agencies, as a repressive force. He ranted about “government overreach”....
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93 comments:
Is Teixeira the OG or just an FG (Fall Guy)?
That's the important thing, to demonize the guy who (perhaps inadvertently) blew the whistle on our actual participation in a hot war against Russia. We should be focused on what was disclosed by the leaked documents, and not distracted by corporate media carrying water for the security state.
From the last graf, it seems the young man is wise beyond his years.
Not only was he USAF guard, but was a member of the intelligence team for his unit, so he absolutely knew better. What a dumb thing to do just to win stupid vg arguments online, but this is happening all the time now.
It wasn't even that juicy. Everything in those docs is basically just a confirmation of what smart people or those with military experience already knew.
When your military becomes #WOKE Central, you attract a certain type of recruit.
Not exactly Gung Ho, these incels. Expect more of this until the US is taken over.
Which by every measure should be shortly.
So there is no need to know built into pentagon information systems? Like this guy needs access to strategic assessments?
Gee, I have a dark view of the current federal government.
You reap what you sow.
Many bureaucrats have been bending and breaking plain laws, selectively leaking info for political advantage, and engaging in lawfare with impunity. Manning and Snowden and Assange...not different than many dirty Deep State officials. Trump's election made it "okay" to flout the rules for political advantage, and COVID-19 involved nothing but conflicts of interest, lies, doublespeak, and dirty tricks.
Will the government prosecute him or welcome him to team as a future star?
Of course we are not supposed to notice the contradiction of saying that he did not do it out of any form of 'misguided patriotism,' if you will, he just did it for the dopamine, but on the other hand, he had" a dark view of government," and saw the CIA and law enforcement as repressive forces.
Gee, how could anybody come to that conclusion? It surely has nothing to do with the political prisoners right now rotting in jail in DC for protesting? Naaah! How about knowing that the president and the top brass of the military were lying through their noses about Ukraine? Naah! He did it because he's obviously a racist, just like anybody who opposes our military project of arming Ukrainian hyper-nationalists, whose twin goals are to get revenge on Russia for their historical ethnic grievances and to create an ethnically monolithic Ukraine!
Obviously only a racist could oppose our arming of these Bandarista nazis.
Note: As I said, I don't read the comments here anymore, to avoid the back and forth, and have tried to keep my replies tightly responsive to the original post, but I weakened yesterday and posted a video that I didn't realize was deceptively edited to make the war monger, the one sitting in the White House currently, look bad. If any any fans of the sociopathic dotard were offended by this, I am sorry.
I am also laid up due to a foot injury, and laying in bed most of the day has made giving up posting for two weeks, well, a pretty steep hill.
Hero or traitor?
Led by Tucker Carlson (Oh! And by Marjorie Taylor Greene, too), I see the Pro-Putin Right coming around to supporting this leaker. With the themes being "We need to get out of and away from the Ukraine war," and "the real enemy is the American deep state." Gamer-boy as "hero."
This is going to be a fascinating Althouse comments page.
Excellent. Let's have a vote on that. A great big national election. I'm thinking we could hold it on, say, the first Tuesday in November, in 2024. Give everybody some time to research the issues and figure out where they stand.
I don't believe a word from the govt, about the hacker, or even that this man is the hacker.
There is a whole submerged government in control of our Nation. DC is a Potemkin village.
"Expect more of this until the US is taken over.
Which by every measure should be shortly."
I think we have already been taken over it's just that most people haven't noticed yet.
How is a 21 year old privy to this information?
I'm struck -- like many others are -- by the reaction to this leak vs. the reaction to all the anti-Trump leaks.
What Dave Begley said at 626 AM.
That picture looks like the star of "The Thunderbirds Are Go".
The poor slub is in deep doodoo, unless he goes full tranny. Defenders would then come out of the woodwork.
Serious Question
This guy was a Airman First Class (E3)..
Promotion to airman first class occurs upon one or more of the following:
*Completion of 10 months time in the grade of airman (or earlier for airmen with specific specialities)
*Completion of three years of the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC)
*Completion of two years of college-level Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC)
*Earning the Billy Mitchell Award in the Civil Air Patrol[3]
*Completion of at least 45 semester hours of accredited junior college/college credits.
*Agreeing to an extended-length enlistment (normally six years).
So it's HARD, NOT to be at least an E3.. THIS E3 had access to highest level classification secrets.
I think Bradley Manning was an E4 (Specialist) when he had his top level clearance.
So, the government is learning.. learning to give top level clearance to Lower and Lower ranked people
oh! i almost forgot my question: What the F*CK is Wrong with us? Giving top level clearance to Privates and Airmen, that are Obviously security risks?
Yes, lets focus on his alleged political views so we don't have to address the issue of how he was able to exfiltrate that info out of a secure facility.
This ‘portrayal’ seems suspicious. Especially from the guardian, where British people see (have been brainwashed) into seeing governments, by default, as a benevolent entity.
How much did the Guardian alter that photo to look like a Hitler Youth recruiting poster?
This whole story is very suspicious.
What is perplexing is the breadth of subjects this guy had--it is presumed--access to. Somebody higher up ave the stuff to him.
"WE'RE TOLD"
Yep. I'm stealing that.
If the Air Force is "The alternative to military service" , what doe that make the Air National Guard?
And a serious question: texiera is identified as just "air national guard" aren't national guards all state organizations? Eg new air national guard, Florida NG etc.
Yahoo news says he is "U.S. Air Force National Guard based in Massachusetts" but that doesn't seem right. Someone should put a mis/dis-information label on that article.
Is there a national air national guard?
It seems that texiera is a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard from other reports.
John Henry
She looks AI generated.
Smells of FBI created "Boogaloo"
Maddow trusts this... so can you.
New York Times then: with Daniel Ellsberg, holding Uncle Sam accountable.
New York Times now: with Uncle Sam, holding dissenting citizens accountable.
Do they even know - have they even considered - that they are now "The Man?"
i mean, they are Obviously unfit, and Clearly mentally fragile... TS/SCI is MADE FOR YOU!
It's a happy coincidence that the boogaloo - er I mean "Thug Shaker Central " - use racist language.
the answer to this BS will be to further erode freedom of information.
It seems odd to me that someone like this, even though he was a member of the Air National Guard would have such easy access to these documents.
What's incredible to me is that this kid was ever given a security clearance, and supposedly a Top Secret (compartmented information) clearance no less! I've held that clearance but only based on war time need and after multiple, extensive background checks that interviewed everyone I knew about my character, potential vulnerabilities to black mail, known associations, etc. It's inconceivable to me that an E2 or E3 airman in the National Guard could have been given access to anything that is not based on "need to know." And an airman that associates with apparently wannabe teenagers in an online gamer chat group. Everyone in his chain of command up to and including the JCS should be fired.
Judging from his picture he should really enjoy prison life.
Only liberal leakers are good. They're whistle blowers.
Racist language was a common feature of the group....
What did they do? Call each other the "N-word", listen to music that constantly uses the "N-word" and blame all their problems on Whitey?
Gee this was wrapped up quickly. Well, speaking of national secrets, that Hunter Biden laptop investigation, is it making any progress?
"Buh Bye. And if you hate the government you shouldn't join the military"
- Adam Kinzinger (Twitter)
Don't worry Mizz Adam, tens of thousands aren't. I really liked that tweet...it is the definition of the look-what-you-made-me-do? domestic violence meme.
Newsflash hotshot, you're the government. How do these people get where they are with such poor cause-effect comprehension?
He needs to declare that he is trans.
Assuming he's found guilty, he's going going to do long, hard time. As he should; politics aside, he took an oath and (again, if guilty) broke it. Meanwhile, Hillary! is living large in Chappaqua.
Something about that photo is a little 'off'. Lighting? Hair? Make-up? Photoshop?
A trial with the prospect of an offer of a cigarette and blindfold might be an attention-getter for would-be leakers. Meanwhile just check said leaker into Hotel California on the Potomac.
To insure DEI is a a feature of such charges and convictions, stipulate that punishment will only be imposed in batches of a dozen or more individuals. Adding anonymous sources and journalists who use them to 'Official Leaker' status should speed things up a bit.
Seriously, the creation and handling of classified information by our governement is a joke. And, the fact that we have over a dozen major intelligence organizations (and uncounted others) that are so busy with politcal chores that they're routinely blind-sided by epic changes and events is a disgrace.
A real journalist would ask: Putting aside the fact that Teixeira leaked these documents, why did he have access to them at all? (1) In the course of his job as a low-ranking member of the National Guard, why was he able to see these documents in the first place? (2) If Teixeira was allowed to access these documents, how may others at his level are also able to access the same documents?
A real journalist would ask: Putting aside the fact that Teixeira leaked these documents, why did he have access to them at all? (1) In the course of his job as a low-ranking member of the National Guard, why was he able to see these documents in the first place? (2) If Teixeira was allowed to access these documents, how may others at his level are also able to access the same documents?
"Teixeira, “had a dark view of the government”, portraying the government, and particularly law enforcement and the intelligence agencies, as a repressive force. He ranted about “government overreach”...."
In the 1960s, he would have been a progressive hero. In the 2020s, he's a dangerous extremist.
Racist language was a common feature of the group....
Citation required.
See: Musk v. BBC.
“ Gee, I have a dark view of the current federal government.”
As do most people with any sense.
Fox is already proclaiming that the evil gamers are at it again. Does anyone at a news org use a Discord server? It's private and invitation only, which means that one of those 20-30 lads shared the info from the server to somewhere else. A curious journalist could ask many questions.
I spent six years in the Army Reserve during Viet Nam and we didn’t know squat about the high level stuff OG is accused of leaking. Things must have changed a lot since then.
What ever happed to “need to know”
I wonder if he ever saw Falcon & the Snowman?
...apparent attempt to impress the rest of the group, rather than to achieve any particular foreign policy outcome.
He didn't do it for money. He hasn't justified it by pointing to the lies of the security state, at least one under an administration that the media establishment hates.
So you know they had to go here...
made up of 20 to 30 young men and teenagers brought together by an enthusiasm for guns, military gear and video games. Racist language was a common feature of the group.
This seems very odd to me. He may be the "leader of an online chat group", but he was no leader to have had access to "Pentagon" classified documents from... Boston. If he did have access; allies should be wary with sharing intelligence with the United States. Considering the current President stored classified material in boxes in his garage, when not storing it a janitor's closet; I wouldn't share anything with the US that I wanted to keep secret.
I guess he will now have a dark view of the Washington Post and NYT as well.
How many rules did Hillary Clinton break?
On a different topic, who in their right mind would ever spy on behalf of the United States? One leak, for whatever reason, and it's a death sentence.
I want to post a link to a clip from Yes Minister here, but I can't find one, so here's what I wanted to link:
That's one of those irregular verbs, isn't it? I give confidential security briefings. You leak. He has been charged under section 2a of the Official Secrets Act.
So, our crack security apparatus got burned by a twenty-something guardsman who should not have been remotely able to access the documents he leaked. Top men. This is either a sign of gross incompetence such that multiple persons should be fired and potentially prosecuted, or this is a setup. At this point, either is equally possible.
The gist of the narrative around this story is that we need to get control of the internet, of what people can say and who they can say it to, because people like this guy and his icky friends have become a threat to national security.
In short, we need to take away basic freedoms in the interest of national security. If we don't, our enemies will win and our enemies are totalitarians who will take away our basic freedoms.
Of course, this traitor is some sort of dangerous, right-wing, government hating racist. You can tell by looking at his picture.
Thus, all FBI, DEA, IRS, etc. invasiveness is justified. See!
I wonder if this guy was tracked down by the crack FBI investigators or snitched off by a friend. My money is on the latter.
"We're told:"
Yeah we've been told a lot. And we're finding out that most of it was lies. As William Burroughs put it, "Let them see what is on the end of that long newspaper spoon".
Was just reading Geraghty's Morning Jolt report on this kid.
Seems to me you could make a case that this could be the flip side of the over-classification problem that has often been remarked on. When a low-level computer tech needs a TS or better clearance because he might stumble across "classified" material while he's doing computer system upgrades or repairs, it also means that he has access to stuff that maybe really should be off-limits to casual inspection. Over-classification destroys the meaningful distinction between that stuff and what's hidden just because it looks bad.
NPR is laying it on thick. Everything about him and his associations, nothing about the substance--which RSM says is anodyne.
Anodyne or nor, it's an opportunity for another turn of the ratchet against critics of the NOG regime. (Neoliberal Occupational Government.)
We need a lot more leaks. I approved of this. I approve of both biden and the donald’s mishandling of classified documents. We need even more.
They are going to try to make it illegal to express dark opinions about the government on social media.
Suppose this guy is a guy and wants to be a guy and looks at that face in the mirror...?
Or some other combination of reality and wishes.
He's in the military. How is he treated?
It appears some of the trans people are really angry about how they're treated, or what people say is happening to them as a group. Would this guy have been harassed due to his looks? The result?
Additionally, considering the breadth of subjects covered, something odd happened. Legitimate access to classified stuff is generally restricted to that involving your unit or your assignment. I was once custodian of classified documents an an Air Defense Group. We didn't get items about what, say, the CIA was doing in Lower Slobbovia, or the Snake Eaters in Upper Revolta. Or politics in Tierra del Fuego. If we did, nobody told me. Or whether Ten Core could use more 82mm ammo. (metaphor, there was no X Corps and we don't use 82mm stuff).
And if somebody mistakenly sent us that, we had neither the time nor interest to read it and I'd probably have sent it back to....wherever. Or maybe everybody already knew it.
Pont is, this guy had connections far beyond what would be expected for his grade and position. IOW, somebody was sending him this stuff, somebody who had reach.
He should announce he's now Jane to get leniency.
When I was his age, I wasn't exactly an incel, but I did find it far more complicated than I would have liked to find attractive women who were interested in letting my sperm search for their eggs.
Treating "incels" as objects of justified scorn seems like just another way for the rich to get a kick out of something that is no longer allowed: insulting the poor.
Ignore the fact that the documents prove the government, from Lloyd Austin to Anthony Blinken to Joe "Shit For Brains" Biden, have been openly lying for over a year about Ukraine.
Just send the poor sap, who has done nothing worse than any other fucking leaker to the NYTimes and WaPo has done for fucking years now. Texeira's only crime is apparently embarrassing the powers that rule us from D.C. Fuckem all.
Now will they put him in solitary like they did the D.C. protestors?
I think his best hope is the Manning defence. And I dont mean Payton or Eli.
He's a fall guy for the poor classification system. He had no need-to-know basis for accessing these documents. Why didn't the classification system require a narrow authorization list for these files? Can just anyone with a TS access them?
He'll be used as a justification for more spying on Americans. "It's for the country's security" we'll be told.
He seems awfully young and inexperienced to have access to this kind of material, but I was never in the military and never had to handle classified material, so maybe that's SOP.
I remain highly skeptical about...all of it.
Why let the WaPo do the big public interviews? (and don't tell me that the WaPo isn't getting instructions).
Why the big public arrest? Why aren't his immediate supervisors and all of the people up the chain who allowed access without security being put on the hot seat?
Why does anybody in the MA Air National Guard, let alone this kid, have access to this stuff?
Are they trying to get this stuff out there on purpose? Are they setting up a justification for a crackdown on "anti-government" citizens?
I smell a giant rat.
Having been an 'Intelligent Analyst" I'm at a loss that a 21 year old 'AF Guard' has a 'Top Secret' Intelligence clearance. Never happened when I was in the Army. Maybe the Air Force has different criteria today, but I doubt it. My experience was that several different service members, Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines where usually in a combat unit together because of combined arms operations. Truly mind boggling to me that a 21 year old AF Guard had this kind of 'Top Secret' clearance.
"Enigma said...
Will the government prosecute him or welcome him to team as a future star?
Why not both? "You can get work release by working for us" is common in spy novels.
I will wait a few days until the media is forced to correct the initial smear articles. You don’t get the truth right away. And how is an ANG airman able to walk off with this stuff. Are basic airmen in charge of reviewing foreign policy?
Dummy following the example set by Biden, Trump, and Pence.
That picture looks like the star of "The Thunderbirds Are Go!"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbirds_Are_Go
Also, Cash Patel said "this didn't happen by himself" on the Charlie Kirk Show.
Cash would know.
Well, how does it feel to finally be at war with Russia?
Maybe the documents were in Biden's garage or car trunk and are being laundered back into the system this way. It's just as likely as the narrative about the incel, racist, gun-loving gamer who got the TOP SECRETS of the Western world.
Dummy following the example set by Biden, Trump, and Pence.
Also, Obama, immigration reformists, and Democrat spies.
Also Yes, Minister: "The Official Secrets Act exists to protect officials, not secrets."
"Hero or traitor?"
Too soon to know, but the default first assumption should be "hero," unless demonstrated otherwise.
One clue would be their behavior: those selling secrets covertly to adversary nations for personal gain or personal enmity are probably traitors, while those who release secrets to the public at large, (through release to the media, and/or otherwise) are probably heroes, as they want the pubic to know the bad shit their government is doing in our name.
If some 21 y/o kid can get access to your "Top secrets" then the problem isn't the kid, its your classification system.
Since this kid is just a white guy, and isn't Jewish/muslim/black/etc, and the leak hurts the Biden Admininstration, look for this guy to be thrown in jail for 100 years, by some scumbag Federal Judge.
If he'd hurt Trump and was a Black tranny, he'd be given community service. You know it. I know it. And even Bob Dole knows it. And he's dead.
Does anyone at a news org use a Discord server? It's private and invitation only, which means that one of those 20-30 lads shared the info from the server to somewhere else. A curious journalist could ask many questions.
So we should be looking for a second leaker who put the documents in wider circulation? Maybe another gamer, maybe a hacker, maybe a foreign government, maybe someone in our government? The government and the media have found their culprit, and if the government is making further inquiries, we won't find out the results.
So after searching his name- he’s clearly identified as being a member of the Massachusetts ANG.
And for those of us familiar with classified intelligence and document handling this leak really raises some red flags. And few of them are about the actual leaker and all of them involve gross dereliction of duty by flag rank officers.
Oh- just for background- all I ever needed was a Secret clearance. My 2nd son and his wife both had TS clearances, well before hitting 21. My oldest and youngest son had TS clearances before commissioning. And TS/SCI clearances by the time they needed them. So I am familiar.
The material leaked is rather obvious sensitive TS/SCI material.
Q1: Why would anyone in any ANG unit, including the commanding general, need access to boots on the ground information for Ukraine?
Q2: Since the answer to Q1 is- they don’t - Who authorized the access?
Q3: When is the answer to Q2 being court martialed?
Q4: What other sensitive TS/SCI material is available to run of the mill ANG units that they have no need to know?
That’s just a small selection of questions.
When I worked around classified material a few years back, most all of it was electronic documents stored on classified network servers. The security department had audit teams who had to verify weekly all the transactions that occurred on these servers, as well as to determine if any of it had been altered. Those technicians had to have high clearance levels because they might encounter those types of files in the course of doing their jobs.
So it wouldn't have been that difficult to walk out the door at the end of the day with a thumb drive full information, or even printed versions.
maybe he found them on the ground in Ireland after Biden passed through.
I don't care what Teixeira's motives were. I hope they lock him up and throw away the key.
All we need now is the 1984/John Hurt video to seal the deal.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/04/14/former_cia_officer_larry_johnson_this_is_a_controlled_leak_to_prepare_the_public_for_crash_landing_of__us_foreign_policy.html
PUNK'D?
Douglas B. Levene: "I don't care what Teixeira's motives were. I hope they lock him up and throw away the key."
What's your opinion on Vindman who admitted leaking documents to the dems to help impeach Trump?
I'll bet you think he's a real peach.
Btw, any luck with getting more information on those "arms caches" Trump supposedly coordinated with the Proud Boys in order to advance the "insurrection"? You were quite keen on all that for awhile.
I'd still like to know how a CIA Operations Center document ended up in this mix of released docs by a junior national guard intel flunky's m&m's stained fingers.
That one alone is a big red flashing neon sign that something bigger is going on here.
jim: "Dummy following the example set by Biden, Trump, and Pence."
All dummies, like jim, appear completely ignorant of the Presidential Records Act and relevant court rulings on Presidential/executive authority related to classified documents.
”When I was his age, I wasn't exactly an incel, but I did find it far more complicated than I would have liked to find attractive women who were interested in letting my sperm search for their eggs.
Treating ‘incels’ as objects of justified scorn seems like just another way for the rich to get a kick out of something that is no longer allowed: insulting the poor.”
What makes you think incels are necessarily poor? Eliot Rodger, the first person I ever heard of associated with the term “incel,” was from a wealthy family.
The Military Intelligence (MI) community has always been know as a haven for weirdos, nerds, and strange people.
When I was in Germany, our Army reserve unit had a Major who branched MI. He told us the above, and continued that the homosexual community of the area (Lanstuhl/Kaiserslautern/Ramstein) was centered on the MI sphere. We laughed.
The next week, the head of USAFE MI was arrested for soliciting sex in the men's room at the Ramstein library.
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