The person who leaked classified US secrets online is a gun enthusiast in his 20s who worked on a military base, according to a US newspaper.
He shared classified documents to a chat group on the instant messaging platform Discord of about two dozen men and young boys who shared a “mutual love of guns, military gear and God”, The Washington Post reported.
The Post based its report, which did not name the leaker, on interviews with two members of the group on the messaging platform popular with gamers. The Standard has been unable to independently verify the report.
The US’s Department of Defence and Department of Justice were yet to comment. Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, has vowed to “turn over every rock” in the search for who is responsible for the leak.
The person went by the handle OG, slang for Original Gangster, and told the group he toiled for hours writing up the classified documents to share with his companions, the Post reported.
The person was described by one of the Post’s sources as being in his early to mid-20s, and was looked up to by members of the group.
“He’s fit. He’s strong. He’s armed. He’s trained. Just about everything you can expect out of some sort of crazy movie,” said one member of the chat group. OG also lectured them about world affairs and secretive government operations, the report said.
He wanted to “keep us in the loop,” the member said, and seemed to think that his insider knowledge would offer the others protection from the troubled world around them, according to the report. “He’s a smart person. He knew what he was doing when he posted these documents, of course. These weren’t accidental leaks of any kind,” the member said.
In what appears to be the gravest leak of US secrets in years, pictures of sensitive documents have been posted on Discord and other platforms including the online messaging board 4Chan, the encrypted Telegram global messaging app, and Twitter.
They include disclosures Britain has deployed 50 elite troops to Ukraine. They have been dismissed by the Ministry of Defence as containing a “serious level of inaccuracy”.
The chair of the Commons defence select committee Tobias Ellwood told The Times leaked documents about UK special forces in Ukraine could “endanger lives”.
In the latest revelation*on Wednesday night, it was reported the files suggest Washington believes that Antònio Guterres, the UN secretary general, is too willing to accommodate Russian interests, undermining western efforts to hold Moscow accountable for the invasion of Ukraine. They also suggest that Washington has been monitoring him closely.
A criminal investigation has been launched into the leaks and Discord said on Wednesday that it was cooperating with law enforcement.
