The man behind the massive leak of secret U.S. documents that exposed our spying on allies and the dire situation with Ukraine’s war against Russia reportedly worked on a military base and released sensitive information in an online chat forum during the COVID pandemic.
Since the document dump last Friday, FBI agents have been working furiously to track down the culprit, while the Pentagon has cut the number of people who have access to the type of classified material that was leaked.
But, it appears the Washington Post has beat the feds to the punch. According to a new report in WAPO, the suspect, identified only as “OG,” joined the invitation-only platform, Discord, in 2020 because he felt a kinship with the other members, who were also gun enthusiasts and lovers of God.
OG was seen as a leader of their small network because he claimed to possess confidential information withheld from the general public. But, at first, his fellow members paid no mind to the bizarre acronyms and unfamiliar technical jargon OG used in his often long posts.
Then one member started zeroing in on OG’s messages and put two and two together. Indeed, OG’s information was coming directly from classified intelligence reports.
WAPO says OG admitted to taking the documents home from his job on a “military base,” which barred employees from having electronic devices inside the secure facility for fear they would photograph the sensitive information.
OG told the group that he spent hours formulating the intelligence reports so he could share them on Discord. The online platform was mainly a place where members would go to swap memes, tell jokes and make idle banter during the height of the pandemic. OG, however, used the platform to pontificate about world affairs and secret government ops.
One member told WaPo OG wanted to “keep us in the loop,” and believed his inside knowledge of government secrets offered protection from threats posed across the world.
The member added, “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.”
As you know, highly classified military documents about the Ukraine/Russia war recently surfaced online, making Pentagon officials panic. The leaked information pointed to holes in Ukraine’s air defense systems and revealed private assessments by allies, including the U.S., on intelligence matters.
A top Pentagon spokesperson has described the leak as a “very serious risk to national security.”