Pentagon leaks linked to young racist gun enthusiast The Irish Times

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The man responsible for leaking hundreds of classified Pentagon documents is believed to be a young racist gun enthusiast who worked on a military base and was trying to impress two dozen fellow members of an Internet chat group.

The Washington Post interviewed a teenage member of the group, who described the man, identified by the initials OG, from their online correspondence, and shared photos and videos. The Washington Post also viewed a video of a man identified as OG on a shooting range with a large gun.

He shouts a series of racial and anti-Semitic slurs into the camera, then fires multiple bullets at a target, according to the report. OG told other members of the same internet group that he worked at a military base, which was not named in the report, where his job involved viewing large amounts of classified information.

The leaked documents revealed secrets about Ukraine’s preparations for a spring counteroffensive, US espionage on allies such as Ukraine, South Korea and Israel, and tensions between Washington and allied capitals concerning the armament of Kiev.

There is mounting evidence that the leak was not an intelligence operation by a state actor aimed at discrediting the United States, but more likely the consequence of a Pentagon policy of granting security clearances. top secret security to a large number of military, civilians and contractors. The number of employees and contractors in the entire US government with top secret clearance is approximately 1.25 million.

OG appears to have acted as a leader on a server originally set up in 2020 on the Discord messaging platform by a small group of gun enthusiasts and gamers. The group went by many names, but most commonly it was known as Thug Shaker Central. Since last year, OG reportedly posted the documents on a server channel he named Bear vs Pig, a reference to the war in Ukraine but also a viral video showing pigs fighting a black bear.

According to the teenage band member interviewed by the Post, OG had a dark view of government, portraying government, and particularly law enforcement and intelligence agencies, as a repressive force. He denounced the excesses of the government.

The Washington Post said the details were confirmed anonymously by other members of the group and that it had seen a total of 300 photographs of classified documents, three times the number previously thought to be circulating.

The origin of the Thug Shaker Central leaks was first reported on Sunday by investigative journalism group Bellingcat, which also interviewed the same member, who was under 18.

However, The Washington Post said the teenage member, who had been in contact with OG over the past few days, had yet to be interviewed by any federal law enforcement officials as of press time Wednesday evening, even whether the Department of Justice has initiated a criminal investigation. investigation and an FBI manhunt was launched earlier this week. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has vowed to turn over every stone in pursuit of the backer.

The current location of the OG is unknown. The teenage band member told The Washington Post that he seemed very confused and lost as to what to do.

He is fully aware of what is happening and the possible consequences, he said. He’s just not sure how to go about resolving this situation. He seems pretty clueless about it.

In his final message to his fellow band members, OG told them to keep a low profile and delete any information that may relate to him, including any copies of classified documents.

Russia has so far offered a quiet response to the leaks. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov suggested on Wednesday that the leak could be a US disinformation ploy. Since the United States is a party to the conflict and is essentially waging hybrid warfare against us, it is possible that such techniques could be used to deceive its adversary, the Russian Federation, Ryabkov told Russian news agencies.

The Ukrainian government is assessing the possible damage of these revelations. The files give details of 12 newly formed brigades, equipped with Western battle tanks and armored vehicles, which are likely to lead the assault on the entrenched Russian positions. Of course, people aren’t happy, an official admitted Wednesday. Ukraine was criticized last year for not being a trustworthy partner. At the beginning of the invasion, we were not equipped with weapons because of this lack of confidence. We lost a lot of territory and people as a result. This perception was wrong. And now this leak is happening on the American side.

It was too early to tell whether the leak would affect planning for the Ukrainian counteroffensive, now at an advanced stage, the official said. The attack is widely expected to take place in the south of the country, and possibly in the east as well. Ukraine’s objective is to break the land corridor linking Crimea to Donetsk province and expel the Russians from the occupied city of Melitopol and the port of Berdyansk.

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