Major US intelligence vulnerabilities are being spotlighted by the leak arrest
The Investigation of Joe Biden’s Leaked Pentagon Intelligence from the Dublin Castle Dinner on Thursday, January 24: A Forensic Look at a Military Leak
Earlier Thursday, President Joe Biden appeared to suggest that the US government was close to identifying the leaker. A US official said that Biden was briefed on the arrest in between his speech at parliament and the banquet dinner at Dublin Castle. He was at the hotel for roughly 90 minutes in between the two events.
Biden has been regularly briefed on the investigation, officials said, as well as the efforts by his top officials to engage with allies who have been identified within, or unsettled by, the content of the leaked information, according to one of the officials. Behind the scenes, it has been a reality that has loomed over a deeply personal and important foreign trip for Biden, one official acknowledged.
The small number of people who had access to the documents, made it possible for investigators to look into it more closely with the help of the forensic trail left by the person who posted them.
The Army Criminal Investigation Division is assisting the Department of Defense in their investigation of the leak, according to Jeffrey Castro, a spokesman for the division. It is unclear if the alleged leaker works within 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 group on a social media platform that shared a love for guns and military gear.
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 leaked documents posted to social media, some of which have been obtained by CNN, include detailed intelligence assessments of allies and adversaries alike, including on the state of the war in Ukraine and the challenges both Kyiv and Moscow face as the war appears stuck in a stalemate in the months ahead.
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.
Some of the leaked classified documents may have been obtained by the intelligence arm of the Joint Staff, which is how the military’s most senior uniformed leadership advises the president.
Pentagon spokesman Brig. The Pentagon is looking atmitigation measures to make sure that they do not leak any more information, said the general in an interview with News Nation.
The criminal investigation is being led by the FBI Washington field office with help from a team of counterintelligence investigators who specialize in hunting leaks.
Pentagon officials are working with investigators on the damage assessment, which will be used in any potential prosecution that results.
Seven Years After Measuring the Secrets of Robert Hanssen and the FBI, Security in the Light of the 9/11 9/11 Aperiodic Case
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.
After Hanssen was exposed, investigators learned he had access to the FBI and State Department’s computer systems and spend hours searching undetected for classified information. In his 25 years with the bureau, with access to highly sensitive sources and methods about US intelligence efforts targeting the Soviet Union and Russia, Hanssen had never been subjected to a polygraph examination.
As in the similar case of former CIA officer Aldrich Ames, who had been arrested by the FBI seven years earlier after similarly passing secrets for years that led to the execution of countless Russian intelligence officials covertly working for the US government, and the later arrests of accused leakers Chelsea Manning and Reality Winner, celebration inside the intelligence community after finally catching a spy is often short-lived.
What typically follows a successful mole hunt is an intense period of public outrage, accusations of gross incompetence, and the launching of congressional and inspector general investigations aimed at determining how the US intelligence community could have been so vulnerable to compromise.
While there is currently no indication that Teixeira allegedly leaked classified documents at the behest or under the control of a foreign power, investigations into major American spy cases involving suspects with varying motivations have uncovered serious inadequacies in the government’s ability to guard itself against penetration.
The Ames case has exposed weaknesses in the CIA’s procedures for dealing with career assignments of employees under suspicion for compromising intelligence operations.
Before Hanssen was exposed, then-FBI Director Robert Mueller said, “security was not a principle priority. There was not a security division. The FBI didn’t have enough expertise. We moved to address that.”
Recent cases of espionage revealed vulnerabilities because so many individuals have unrestricted access to US secrets. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking government secrets while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq.
A forensic specialist testified about the source code on Manning’s computer, which included hundreds of thousands of secret documents.
Another major issue pertains to how classified information is distributed to military and intelligence personnel. In order for national security officials to do their jobs, they necessarily must have access to databases and distribution lists containing raw and analyzed intelligence. But widespread access to the nation’s secrets, even among those with security clearances, violates a key intelligence community tenet that information only be access by people with a “need to know.”
Modern scanning technology now alert agency security personnel when a device is inserted into a government system without their knowledge, as a result of some common practices now employed.
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 and users receive log in notifications telling them that their every move 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. Defense Department personnel who hold Top Secret clearances are not required to take polygraphs, even though agencies like the FBI and CIA do.
The polygraph exam has been scrutinized but intelligence community officials believe that it helps prevent improper disclosures if employees know they will have 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.
Speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper after Thursday’s arrest, House Intelligence ranking member Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat, said: “This is a system and a process which obviously failed in a very substantial way. Congress comes in to help with that. You can be sure that we are going to be doing our oversight.
An Air National Guard Sergeant in Italy is Under Investigation: The Case of an Unaltered Document Leaked on a Private Discord Server
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. The later investigations discovered that the unaltered versions were posted earlier than previously thought and spread to other channels. It was found that the documents were posted as far back as January.
According to a report from The Washington Post, the original leaker was known as “OG” within the private Discord server “Thug Shaker Central,” where he also served as the administrator. The suspect uploaded typed-up copies of the documents to the server but later transitioned to sharing actual photos with the group after becoming frustrated with their lack of interaction with them. The background of these photographs, which contained interior decorations, countertops, and flooring, helped the FBI make the connection to Teixeira, according to The New York Times.
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. The company publicly announced on Wednesday that it is being investigated by the Department of Justice. Discord didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
“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.
Teixeira was under surveillance for at least a couple of days prior to his arrest by the FBI on Thursday, according to a US government source familiar with the case.
“The FBI is continuing to conduct authorized law enforcement activity at the residence,” the agency said. The FBI has been aggressively pursuing investigative leads, and todays arrest is proof of our continued commitment to identify and hold accountable those who put our national security at risk.
John P. Austin (Dighton, Rhode Island): A Journeyman who Invented the Navy and the U.S. Cyber Transport System
The service record of the enlisted airman was released by the Air Force Thursday. His job as a Cyber Transport Systems journeyman was created after he joined the service. According to the Air Force, Cyber Transport Systems specialists are tasked with making sure the service’s “vast, global communications network” is “operating properly.”
According to several former classmates, the man had a fascination with the 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 attended middle school and highschool with Teixeira, said he was a pleasant kid who was picked on. 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.
Other students, who asked not to be identified, said they detected a more menacing vibe from Teixeira, who some recalled making comments they perceived as racist or mumbling derogatory things about people under his breath.
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.
Austin said he would not hesitate to take additional measures to safeguard the nation’s secrets. “Accordingly, I am directing the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security to conduct a review of our intelligence access, accountability and control procedures within the Department to inform our efforts to prevent this kind of incident from happening again.”
