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The Military Social Networks United States

Leaker of US Documents Shared More Secrets Earlier in a Discord Group with 600 Members (japantimes.co.jp) 119

Remember that U.S. Air National Guardsman who's suspected of leaking classified documents? The New York Times has discovered "a previously undisclosed chat group on Discord" where the same airman apparently also posted "sensitive information" including "secret intelligence on the Russian war effort," this time to a group with 600 members — and "months earlier than previously known," in February of 2022. The case against Airman Teixeira, 21, who was arrested on April 13, pertains to the leaking of classified documents on another Discord group of about 50 members, called Thug Shaker Central. There, he began posting sensitive information in October 2022, members of the group told The Times. His job as an information technology specialist at an Air Force base in Massachusetts gave him top secret clearance... The user claimed to be posting information from the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies.

The additional information raises questions about why authorities did not discover the leaks sooner, particularly since hundreds more people would have been able to see the posts... The exposure of some of America's most closely guarded secrets has prompted criticism about how the Pentagon and intelligence agencies protect classified data, and whether there are weaknesses in both vetting people for security clearances and enforcing the mantra that access to secrets should only be given to people with a "need to know."

Unlike Thug Shaker Central, the second chat room was publicly listed on a YouTube channel and was easily accessed in seconds... Apparently eager to impress others in the group who questioned his analysis, he said: "I have a little more than open source info. Perks of being in a USAF intel unit," referring to the United States Air Force... At times, he appeared to be posting from the military base where he was stationed... Airman Teixeira also claimed that he was actively combing classified computer networks for material on the Ukraine war.

When one of the Discord users urged him not to abuse his access to classified intelligence, Teixeira replied: "too late...."

The Times says they learned about the larger chat room "from another Discord user."
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Leaker of US Documents Shared More Secrets Earlier in a Discord Group with 600 Members

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  • How times change (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Going from “evil empire” to admiration for the Republican Party. https://voicesofdemocracy.umd.... [umd.edu]

  • by RightwingNutjob ( 1302813 ) on Saturday April 22, 2023 @10:55AM (#63469524)

    Of course he's guilty. Just look at him.

    It continues to strike me, and evidently not just me, as *odd* that a 20 yo whose service photograph looks like the 14 yo who masturbates behind the bleachers during cheerleader practice was given admin privileges on these networks.

    Then again, at my workplace, the IT monkeys fall into two categories: adults who do their job and go home, and kids fresh out of school who couldn't cut it in tech jobs and ended up IT monkeys...and also look (and sometimes act) like the kids who masturbate under the bleachers.

    • by l0n3s0m3phr34k ( 2613107 ) on Saturday April 22, 2023 @12:02PM (#63469666)
      I'm not surprised. His immediate family has worked in the military work for some time, his step-dad retired after 34 years. Combined with not having much time to gather any criminal record or financial issues, he probably passed his TS checks with ease. From there, admin privileges are just some additional CBT training and being "read into" whatever program the systems he was a privileged user on.

      What seems to be lacking is the IS security on the base itself, as he shouldn't have been able to access Discord, and data transfers between SIPR and NIPR should have been locked down more. He also shouldn't have been able to get a cell phone into the locations with TS data.
      • by Anonymous Coward

        What seems to be lacking is the IS security on the base itself.

        The immature kid was the tip of an inverted iceberg of grossly (criminally?) incompetent layers of management whose primary security plan was such a gross failure that it was forced to rely essentially on trust. Imagine if it wasn't some immature kid, but a competent spy in the same fucking hen house of clucking idiot management.

        • Actually, yes, many of the security controls are meant to operate on the idea of trust. There are two types of controls: operational and technical. Technical controls have some type of technology behind them; operational only have the written process. This is discussed in depth NIST manuals like 800-53.
        • Imagine if it wasn't some immature kid, but a competent spy in the same fucking hen house of clucking idiot management.

          Exactly. And how would anybody ever know that they had the information if they didn't brag about it or leave a trail?

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by imunfair ( 877689 )

        From there, admin privileges are just some additional CBT training and being "read into" whatever program the systems he was a privileged user on.

        He supposedly leaked the covert recordings of world leaders who are supposed to be our allies, stuff that's a huge egg on our face if it gets leaked. Those made me doubt that it came from him. I can believe that some classified stuff is freely floating around inter-agency surveillance exchange programs, but transcripts or recordings of secret surveillance operations should be a very limited access item to even know exists, much less access.

        Either the government has some huge flaws in their security protoc

      • well apparently he too pictures of the stuff then uploaded from his mom's house. Her kitchen counter was in the background of some of the pics
    • by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Saturday April 22, 2023 @05:46PM (#63470106)

      Well, in any case a whole organization was stupid here and with critical stuff. I shudder to think how these idiots handle nuclear weapon safety.

      • There was a story on npr or nyt about the guys sitting in the silos maybe 10 years ago. They were all 20-somethings, in grad school (either one of the service universities or online program at places like Purdue) and spent their shifts doing homework, figuring they're not going to have to be turning any keys or pushing any buttons.

    • by t0qer ( 230538 )

      If you're on NIPR the highest classification you'll find is secret. If you're on SIPR, you can find everything above secret but you can't use a machine capable of writing to external media. You're using a specially modified machine running Horizon thin client, which itself is setup to not allow any transfer of media files.

      What I want to know is how did he get files off SIPR?

  • by davide marney ( 231845 ) on Saturday April 22, 2023 @11:10AM (#63469550) Journal

    My understanding is that the leaked documents contain classification markings from FISA, CIA, and the NSA. None of those documents sound like they are in the scope of operations for the USAF, "intelligence" branch, or not. The Airman is also a raw recruit, an E3. That is a rank typically granted to apprentices.

    Forget the Airman. I want to know how an E3 got access to documents completely outside the security domain of his unit.

    • Forget the Airman. I want to know how an E3 got access to documents completely outside the security domain of his unit.

      Why not both [blogspot.com]? Find out how he got access to the documents and why he thought it would be a good idea to post said secret documents for everyone to see? If it was to show off then procedures need to be put in place to more fully vet these people. If it was a side attempt to provide information to the enemy, then hang him.

      And not only how the got hold of them, but why no one knew they were

      • by znrt ( 2424692 )

        If it was a side attempt to provide information to the enemy, then hang him

        what enemy? so you are acknowledging that the us is at war? your president isn't going to like that ...

        nah, forget it, it was a rhetorical question and the answer is pretty obvious. i'll just happily point out this little fault in reasoning:

        If it was to show off then procedures need to be put in place to more fully vet these people.

        if it was? and if it wasn't, all fine and dandy? how is a kid's intention relevant to a security procedure? the mere possibility of that risk means those procedures need to be in place. yesterday. so, this is just hot air.

      • by HuskyDog ( 143220 ) on Saturday April 22, 2023 @12:44PM (#63469752) Homepage
        I think that you are referring here to how things were done in the "olden days" when all documents were on sheets of paper in locked filing cabinets.

        If these documents were created and stored on an IT system then the paper counting scheme will clearly no longer apply. The issue is then more one of how the documents managed to be printed without then becoming "accountable". The fact that the alleged miscreant had some sort of network admin access suggests to me that either:
        a) He printed them and then tampered with the logs which should show what has been printed (clearly there shouldn't be any printers on a TS network in the first place), or
        b) He smuggled in a storage device, used his admin rights to override the locks preventing such devices from being accessed and then transferred the documents to a low classification network where there were no printing restrictions.

        At the end of the day, the key problem is that you can add restrictions to higher classification networks restricting what users can do, but you need people (admins) to implement these locks and they will inevitably have the possibility to override them.
        • Even if they are overridden, there is supposed to be some type of audit log that the administrators shouldn't be able to access. There is a whole control family (Audit and Accountability) that has a long list of controls and requirements.
    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Indeed. That person should never have gotten this access.

    • Melchett: Now, I've compiled a list of those with security clearance, have you got it Darling?

      Darling: Yes sir.

      Melchett: Read it please.

      Darling: It's top security sir, I think that's all the Captain needs to know.

      Melchett: Nonsense! Let's hear the list in full!

      Darling: Very well sir. "List of personnel cleared for US-Military-Secrets, as dictated by General C. H. Melchett: You and me, Darling, obviously. Field Marshal Haig, Field Marshal Haig's wife, all Field Marshal Haig's wife's friends, their families,

  • Everyone always talks about who leaked the docs, and how they leaked, but no one ever talks about the contents of the leaked docs.

    Also kids, don't use discord for private or secure things. How and why do you think the service runs on their servers and is free?

  • How much people will give up when they get caught up in the current propaganda noise machine. The level of fear-mongering going on today is insane. It's like comparing a firecracker to an atom bomb. Over and over again I see stories of people just hauling off and shooting people. And if it's sufficiently politically useful and motivated you might even get a pardon out of it.

    What amazes me is the number of people who think open carry is a solution to the problem because of everybody had guns they think
    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Meanwhile nobody's actually questioning why random national guard kid had access to classified documents.

      I think that is the main question here. And I think whoever messed up so this kid got access he was not mature enough to handle should actually be the one to go away for a long, long time.

  • What's supposed to be the big scandal in the documents is a big nothing Burger. The scandal is supposed to be that there are US troops in Ukraine but we already knew that. They're there to make sure all the military aid and weapons were giving out don't wind up on the second-hand market.

    It hasn't stopped the noise machine from fear mongering on the prospect. It's genuinely weird to watch the anti-communist crowd pivot to pro-russia even though Russia is way more authoritarian today than they wore under
    • It saddens me American domestic politics is so polarized each side must work to defeat any success of the other side.

      So we have Republicans throwing in with Ruseia rolling tanks through Europe for literally the exact same reason Hitler used: protecting your ethnic nationals in another country.

      Having made that side mad, I shall make the other side mad. Why would Republicans do this? Why, they just came off 4 years of the other side pulling out all the stops to be 100% contrarian as well.

  • by fredrated ( 639554 ) on Saturday April 22, 2023 @11:44AM (#63469632) Journal

    and harmed America for bragging rights. Beyond sad.

  • by Growlley ( 6732614 ) on Saturday April 22, 2023 @11:50AM (#63469644)
    work collegue got hold of a classified document stamp above our clearence grade , Silly idiot before handing it back in stamped his daily news paper as a joke. However at that point per policy it became a document he wasn't cleared to have in hiss possesion. He couldn't take it off site to dispose of it because you were searched leaving the facillity nor could he just put in the round file at his desk. He couldn't use the shredders because he didn't have the clearence to either access them or authorise the destruction of the document at that clearence level. He had to come clean at that point and go see his manager which wasn't a pleasant experience. Never did find out what happened to whomever misplaced the stamp in the first instance.
    • Heh. Reminds me of when we were sitting around on a graveyard shift at the facility. Us lower grades were just sitting in a daze during a break when the clown of the group grabbed a stamp and a paper and started a chant, "Secret codeword, secret codeword", stamp stamp stamp stamp stamp stamp stamp! He did it a few times until he tired of his simpleton outburst. He was senior to most of the rest of us, but he was short, so dumbshit stuff was the norm for him.

  • by TheMiddleRoad ( 1153113 ) on Saturday April 22, 2023 @12:24PM (#63469708)

    Stop picking on this wonderful, white, Christian, American man.

  • by manu0601 ( 2221348 ) on Saturday April 22, 2023 @05:57PM (#63470124)

    access to secrets should only be given to people with a "need to know"

    IIRC,the exact opposite reproach was raised after 9/11, leading to secrets being mush more shared within the intelligence community.

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