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A damaging batch of documents leaked from the Pentagon appears to have been initially shared on the video game chat platform Discord in an effort to win an argument about the war in Ukraine, according to open-source intelligence analysts.

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The man behind a massive leak of U.S. government secrets that has exposed spying on allies, revealed the grim prospects for Ukraine’s war with Russia and ignited diplomatic fires for the White House is a young, charismatic gun enthusiast who shared highly classified documents with a group of far-flung acquaintances searching for companionship amid the isolation of the pandemic.

United by their mutual love of guns, military gear and God, the group of roughly two dozen — mostly men and boys — formed an invitation-only clubhouse in 2020 on Discord, an online platform popular with gamers. But they paid little attention last year when the man some call “OG” posted a message laden with strange acronyms and jargon. The words were unfamiliar, and few people read the long note, one of the members explained. But he revered OG, the elder leader of their tiny tribe, who claimed to know secrets that the government withheld from ordinary people.

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The leader of a small online gaming chat group where a trove of classified U.S. intelligence documents leaked over the last few months is a 21-year-old member of the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, according to interviews and documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The national guardsman, whose name is Jack Teixeira, oversaw a private online group named Thug Shaker Central, where about 20 to 30 people, mostly young men and teenagers, came together over a shared love of guns, racist online memes and video games.

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The New York Times spoke with four members of the Thug Shaker Central chat group, one of whom said he has known the person who leaked for at least three years, had met him in person, and referred to him as the O.G. The friends described him as older than most of the group members, who were in their teens, and the undisputed leader. One of the friends said the O.G. had access to intelligence documents through his job.

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A 21-year-old US Air Force National Guard employee has been arrested over the leak of US defence and intelligence documents.

Jack Teixeira is reported to be the leader of an online gaming chat group where the files were leaked.

The documents revealed sensitive intelligence about the war in Ukraine and other countries around the world.

Aerial footage showed officers making an arrest at Mr Teixeira's family home Thursday.

The arrest happened in Dighton, a town of 8,000 people about an hour to the south of Boston.

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Former Rep. Liz Cheney said Thursday that GOP firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene should not have a security clearance after Greene defended the Air National Guardsman suspected of leaking a trove of classified documents.

Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming who has come out against the Trump-aligned wing of the party, said Greene's comments made clear that she "cannot be trusted" with national security information.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, of Georgia, defended the alleged leaker, Jack Teixeira, 21, in two tweets Thursday night, claiming that the Biden administration was "the real enemy" and had "lied to us from the very beginning."

Cheney responded in a post on Twitter, saying, "Marjorie Taylor Greene makes clear yet again that she cannot be trusted with America’s national security information and should not have a security clearance of any kind."

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Greene, a member of the Homeland Security Committee, said on Twitter that “Jake Teixeira is white, male, christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime. And he told the truth about troops being on the ground in Ukraine and a lot more. Ask yourself who is the real enemy?”