West News Wire: Authorities have identified a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard as a person of interest in the investigation into classified documents leaked over the Discord social media platform in recent months, sources reported on Thursday.
The FBI has made significant progress in identifying the person suspected of leaking classified documents over the Discord social media platform in recent months. Authorities are working toward building a prosecutable case and identifying all those who may have had unauthorized access to the materials and been involved in the disclosures.
Media reports have described the documents as being shared among a small group of users on Discord before getting wider notice. The Washington Post interviewed one person who say says he was part of the group believes the alleged leaker, who goes by the moniker “OG,” works on a military base.
President Joe Biden broke his silence Thursday on the leak of apparently highly classified documents after the Washington Post report.
Biden told reporters in Dublin that the Justice Department was “getting close” in its criminal investigation into how the U.S. intelligence documents which seem to contain top-secret information about the Ukraine war and other parts of the world ended up online.
“Right now there’s a full-blown investigation going on and, you know, with the intelligence community and the Justice Department, and they’re getting close,” Biden said when asked if he could provide an update on the probe. “But I don’t have an answer.”
The disclosure has raised diplomatic issues that U.S. intelligence has been spying on its allies as well as its adversaries. Asked about whether he was concerned about the leak, Biden played down its potential impact.
“I’m concerned that it happened,” Biden said. “But there is nothing contemporaneous that I’m aware of that is of great consequence.”
The Washington Post characterized the alleged leaker as a “young, charismatic gun enthusiast” who began disseminating the documents in a private server group on Discord last fall.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in his first public comments on the leak Wednesday, also said he was limited in what he could say about the matter amid the DOJ’s investigation.
He told reporters he was first informed of the apparent leak on April 6, after some documents were posted on popular social media sites, and that investigators were focusing on documents dated Feb. 28 and March 1.
