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How did the Ukraine document leaker do it?

I haven't been following the leak of the Ukraine files super closely, but here's the latest news:

Around a half-dozen F.B.I. agents on Thursday pushed onto the property of a 21-year-old member of the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard who is linked to an online group at the center of a trove of leaked classified U.S. intelligence documents that have upended relations with American allies and exposed weaknesses in the Ukrainian military.

This is the infamous leader of Thug Shaker Central, an online group of gamers. And like everyone else, I don't get it. I've read about the elaborate precautions taken by people like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden in order to download intel files and make them public, but it sounds like this guy did nothing special at all. He's 21 years old, a member of the National Guard, and he just casually downloaded some explosive files and took them home.

Is it really that easy? Why would a National Guard member even have access to stuff like this? What's going on?

47 thoughts on “How did the Ukraine document leaker do it?

  1. different_name

    Is it really that easy? Why would a national guard member even have access to stuff like this? What's going on?

    Something like 3 million people have access to one type of classified information or another. In the intel world, access has been considered out of control for a long time. One of several problems is that things are over-classified, for all the reasons you are thinking of. That leads to people needing permission to see classified docs.

    And yes, if you don't care (or are too dumb to worry) about getting caught, and don't care what you take because you only care about the big "CLASSIFIED" stamp at the top to impress your friends, it is that easy.

    Lots of things are easy if you don't consider consequences.

    1. tango

      Yes, it is very easy. I had a clearance for over 30 years, and I could have taken out so much super-sensitive stuff if I had the mind to. Call it up on the screen, edit out the classification markings, print it and stuff it in my pocket, and that's that.

      The Government mostly has to rely on people respecting their obligations and following the law, because controlling it via extensive body searches, etc, is insanely expensive and inconvenient, and unless done well, is STILL defeatable. But the good news is best as I can tell, people with clearances take their responsibilities seriously.

      1. cld

        Would you have been able to access stuff that wasn't remotely within your purview?

        I'm asking because of the paper that reportedly said Egypt was supplying missiles to Russia, which seems hard to imagine it's applicability to the Massachusetts Air National Guard.

        1. tango

          Hard to say. Theoretically there is the concept of "Need to Know" at work, but back in the day when I was in the business, there were a lot of holes in that concept. But since I know nothing about what EXACTLY this guy did or the systems he used (and wouldn't tell you even if I knew), I can't say in this case.

        2. Daniel Berger

          While I was only in TS work for a couple of years, I worked in a large, open room with a lot of different information about a variety of countries laid out on tables for people within their own working groups to peruse.

          If I had wanted to, I could have easily picked up paper almost completely unrelated to my specific area of work and hidden it and walked out with it. Intel functions on the Honor System.

          That said, there was pretty stiff compartmentalization between, say, signals intelligence and image intelligence people.

    2. Eve

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  2. ruralhobo

    What goes on, I think, is that (1) people who classify documents can get bawled out if they don't classify something that subsequently causes embarrassment, but not if they classify innocent stuff, so to be safe they classify everything that hits their desk. This, I expect, is so everywhere in the world.

    Then, since lots of people need to see that unnecessarily classified info, either (2a) millions of people are given security clearances (United States) or (2b) stupid mistakes are made because not enough people get it (China). 2a is the better option, I think, even if it logically leads to leaks.

    In short I think the problem is the incentive structure at source and although the kid in question is a rightwing gun nut I kinda feel for him.

    1. name99

      Do we know his motivations? In other words is "right wing gun nut" even slightly relevant? (For that matter is it even true, except insofar as anyone who disagrees with some sort of maximalist gun-banning position is labeled "nut" by people who do agree with that maximalist position?)

      As far as I can tell, the primary driving force was "want to impress people I play video games with", a dumb (but all too common) motivation across every dimension of the political spectrum.

  3. Joseph Harbin

    "A U.S. official confirms that the FBI has arrested Airman Teixeira."
    https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/04/13/us/documents-leak-pentagon/b8b4c7aa-1f5b-5e80-ad22-64a5cdba5b26?smid=url-share

    From the WaPo story: "OG had a dark view of the government. The young member said he spoke of the United States, and particularly law enforcement and the intelligence community, as a sinister force that sought to suppress its citizens and keep them in the dark. He ranted about 'government overreach.'"

    I'm not entirely clear on why anyone so anti-government would choose of all career options to be a member of the Air National Guard.

    But he's hardly the only one like that.

      1. J. Frank Parnell

        He considered himself a sort of Jason Bourne. His posse of teenage Call of Duty nerds think the government will terminate him with extreme prejudice or else lock him up in Guantanamo without a trial. In fact he can expect a public trial and a long sentence in the federal pen. The government loves to make examples of these kind of people when they catch them.

    1. Joseph Harbin

      Fact is, of course, military and law enforcement are full of authoritarian types, and their contempt for the system and for following the rules is a common trait.

      That said, I wonder if you totaled all the damage to national security from the leaked documents and compared it to the damage from leaked intelligence from Donald Trump, how it would compare. Likely, there would be no comparison. I would justice was as swift.

    2. Austin

      Lots of anti government people work for the government. Lots more always cash their government checks, even as they bitch incessantly about the government’s spending. Hypocrisy is always alive and well in the US.

      1. cld

        It's not hypocrisy.

        Their issue is that their authority in their positions is created through democratic process and is publicly accountable.

        They believe authority should be unaccountable, theirs in particular.

        1. painedumonde

          Hear, hear. There is a pecking order, it shouldn't be questioned by the likes of you, I'm in it, protected by it, armed with it, and you will render unto me the respect that I'm due.

          The intricacies of the monkey cage.

  4. cld

    The issue here is the blind self-conceit of wingnuts with guns.

    This guy is sounding like exactly the kind of dimwit zero sense of context or ability to understand, or even accept as real, any information at all that doesn't promote his immediate self-interest.

    You would think exactly this kind of character is someone who should not be allowed access to any classified information, as he is incapable of any kind of significant or serious judgment.

  5. jte21

    I doesn't appear he downloaded them -- from what I've read he folded them up, put them in his pocket, and took them home. Like a common Trump!

    The guy is obviously one of those loser gun-nut incel types trying to impress some of his online gamer buddies, who apparently look up to him like he was some kind of Qanon guru or something. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, as they say. In this case probably a hitch at Ft. Leavenworth.

      1. rick_jones

        It would seem a non-trivial fraction of our military personnel are “guard” https://www.statista.com/statistics/232330/us-military-force-numbers-by-service-branch-and-reserve-component/

        My recollection/understanding is guard units get deployed with some regularity. It would stand to reason they would be expected to be kept in the proverbial loop. Of course there is still the question of just how wide and broad that loop should be for various information.

      2. rick_jones

        Asked about the intelligence activities of the Massachusetts Air National Guard where Teixeira worked, Ryder said that, "In general, intelligence wings throughout the Air Force support what you might imagine — Air Force intelligence requirements worldwide to support a variety of types of intelligence missions and requirements, which include active guard and reserve components."

        https://news.google.com/articles/CBMiggFodHRwczovL3d3dy5uYmNuZXdzLmNvbS9wb2xpdGljcy9uYXRpb25hbC1zZWN1cml0eS91cy1vZmZpY2lhbHMtaWRlbnRpZnktbGVha2VkLWNsYXNzaWZpZWQtZG9jdW1lbnRzLXN1c3BlY3QtMjEteWVhci1vbGQtcmNuYTc5NTc30gEqaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubmJjbmV3cy5jb20vbmV3cy9hbXAvcmNuYTc5NTc3?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

  6. cld

    Another thing is that because it was another guy who posted some of these files on a public forum another intelligence agency could have come across them and altered them before they became public, on the anticipation that they would become public, in order to cause as much general trouble as possible.

  7. NotCynicalEnough

    I would say that the entire thing is a disinformation campaign except that it is so obviously a potential disinformation campaign which leads one to conclude it is just incompetence. At least this guy didn't have to wash up on a beach in Crimea with all the documents in his briefcase.

  8. morrospy

    former calguard here. someone lazy combat idiot with too much rank probably just made this guy do all the work for him and handed over his CAC

  9. Doctor Jay

    Well, this isn't an excuse for the guy, who deserves and needs to face justice.

    AND, 21-year-old males can have a very hard time integrating into our current society. They have an age-and-gender related impulse to declare their independence, to declare their adulthood. We have precious few rites of passage left for these young men.

    Teenage rebellion doesn't stop at age 20. It stops at about age 25.

    It's a hard problem. I know some things that can work, that can help the situation, but they don't necessarily scale.

    1. Austin

      Boo hoo. Tens of millions of men have managed to get through their twenties while integrating themselves into society and without committing any crimes along the way. This guy could’ve too.

      1. Doctor Jay

        What follows is a wild speculation on my part. I may be completely off base, but I'm going to tell you what your response sounds like to me:

        I'm guessing that you had some rough times at that age, and maybe even wished you had some help, or maybe now you wish you could have had more help then.

        I mean, you really kind of sound resentful, which rather validates my observation of young men, rather than invalidating it.

        It is one of the most important, most powerful masculine tropes is "I can do this myself". It seems relevant both to the situation of the leaker and to our discussion.

        I'm bringing this up in a spirit of curiosity far more than one of judgement. I don't want to get into a fight about it. I just want to learn more...

        1. cld

          Didn't you have an upband down time in your twenties?

          I think this encompasses pretty much everyone, aside from the absurdly fortunate.

  10. Crissa

    Someone has to fetch the coffee and run the shredder. You don't start at the top.

    The part that gets me is the declaration he and his kin are non-partisan yet... they shared right-wing memes on a Discord server with a right-wing slur for beating up black people.

  11. painedumonde

    Some times a junior member is afforded some responsibility to help develop them into more senior positions - it's like letting the kids use the lawnmower after they show some maturity. Apparently his supervisors hadn't noticed the rased flower beds.

    1. cld

      There is some kind of tradition among my numbskull family where when a child is 8 or 9 they will force him to try to cut the yard with a rotary lawnmower, circa 1939, which is a gizmo that will grab the grass and yank it out rather than cutting it.

      Builds character.

  12. dilbert dogbert

    This could be an inadvertent disinformation campaign. If the treat community is still of the old USSR mentality. The evil nasty Goloms are tricksy!!!!!

    1. weirdnoise

      It's the most obvious thing in the world for someone who believes in Trump's characterization of the "Deep State".

  13. pjcamp1905

    This country classifies way too many things. Folklore in the government is that bosses won't even look at something unless it's classified, so it is treated as a form of advertising.

    This country gives way too many people security clearances. This guy was an airman first class, the equivalent of a private first class in the army. No one at that rank should have access to anything remotely sensitive.

    And why on Earth did anyone decide that the Air National Guard should have access to information about the Ukraine war at all? Unless we are planning to join the conflict, that is completely out of bounds.

    And it's the Air National Guard, not the Pentagon. Security is bound to be lax as it is conducted by part timers. This dipshit apparently showed photos of the docs to his friends to show how important he was.

    1. lawnorder

      Regarding someone at that rank having access to sensitive material, as I understand it officers and senior noncoms in "paper pusher" positions generally have clerks who do the actual paper pushing and who consequently have access to everything their superiors do.

  14. bouncing_b

    He had access because he was the tech guy for what were probably a bunch of old fat dudes whose idea of IT security was writing their password on a sticky note on the back of their monitor. Like Edward Snowdon in that way (not any other, but Snowdon's book explains this situation very well). The IC depends on guys like Teixiera, and some of them are rotten.

  15. name99

    "Around a half-dozen F.B.I. agents on Thursday pushed onto the property"

    Is there some weirdness about the arrest that I am not aware of? What sort of language is "pushed onto the property"? It sounds like they are trying to imply he was holed up in a fortified compound and the FBI had to go in with armored bulldozers, whereas as far as I know the arrest was more or less normal. (Armored police, sure, but you never know if someone with weapons training may try to fight it out rather than simply submit to arrest.)

    Is the NYT trying to push a "white nationalist crazy like David Koresh or Timothy McVeigh" line? Or they are they trying to go in the opposite direction, implying another heavy handed over-reaction by the jack-booted thugs of the US police state? I honestly don't understand this language.

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