An employee of the US Air National Guard has been arrested in the northeastern United States in connection with the leaking of classified intelligence documents, according to US Attorney-General Merrick Garland.
The suspect, 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, was arrested on Thursday in Dighton, a small rural town south of Boston, Massachusetts, the Attorney-General said at a press conference.
Texeira will have an initial appearance in the US District Court in Massachusetts.
Shortly before the Attorney-General's press conference, U.S. television stations, including CNN, showed aerial footage of Teixeira's arrest by security forces officers. The man, hands on his head and wearing a grey T-shirt and red shorts, could be seen slowly backing up to soldiers before being stopped and then escorted to a civilian-looking vehicle.
The leak of the documents, which, among other things, detail Washington’s views on the war in Ukraine, had prompted the Pentagon to fear a “very high risk” to the country’s national security.
