Leaker of damaging U.S. intelligence files was reportedly administrator of a Discord chat room
The U.S. is scrambling to contain the damage from the leak of potentially hundreds of classified documents discovered last week on social media sites. The Justice Department is investigating to figure out who leaked the documents and why, and the Pentagon is working with the State Department, White House, and intelligence agencies to determine how damaging the leak is, try and assuage angry allies, and figure out how to prevent future breaches.
At this point, "we don't know who is behind this; we don't know what the motive is," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday. "We don't know what else might be out there."
Users of the social media site Discord say an administrator of a closed group chat room, or server, called "Thug Shaker Central" posted hundreds of classified documents during arguments over Russia's Ukraine invasion. Most of the documents that have emerged are from February and March, but the open-source investigators at Bellingcat said they saw evidence of documents from January. Bellingcat traced a handful of leaked documents from Thug Shaker Central to two larger Discord servers in early March, then 4Chan, and finally, on April 5, pro-Russia Telegram channels. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was briefed on the leak April 6.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Bellingcat spoke with three members of the Thug Shaker Central server, which was deleted April 7, and they described it as a tight-knit community of about 20 active users who shared an interest in video games, music, and Orthodox Christianity. The server "was not especially geopolitical in nature, although its users had a staunchly conservative stance on several issues," Bellingcat recounted. "Racial slurs and racist memes were shared widely."
The Discord users all refused to identify the person who posted the classified files, and one user told The Associated Press he kept copies of "way past hundreds" of the documents posted by "O.G." He said Americans deserve to see the files, and "on the off chance that the O.G. gets arrested, I'm leaking them all." Discord said it is cooperating with law enforcement investigating the leak.
"A surprisingly large number of people potentially had access to the Pentagon intelligence documents," The New York Times reports, "but clues left online may help investigators narrow down the pool of possible suspects relatively quickly." Notably, the Times says, "the intelligence materials appear to have been first photographed and then uploaded online, a kind of sloppy procedure" that could yield promising digital fingerprints.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
The Onion is having a very ironic laugh with Infowars
The Explainer The satirical newspaper is purchasing the controversial website out of bankruptcy
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
'Rahmbo, back from Japan, will be looking for a job? Really?'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
What's next for electric vehicles under Trump?
Today's Big Question And what does that mean for Tesla's Elon Musk?
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Racist texts tell Black people in US to prepare for slavery
Speed Read Recipients in at least a dozen states have been told to prepare to 'pick cotton' on slave plantations
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Australia proposes social media ban before age 16
Speed Read Australia proposes social media ban before age 16
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
FTC bans fake online product reviews
Speed Read The agency will enforce fines of up to $51,744 per violation
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
States sue TikTok over children's mental health
Speed Read The lawsuit was filed by 13 states and Washington, D.C.
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Amazon ending 'Just Walk Out' grocery checkout
Speed Read In its place, the company will let customers scan while they shop with Amazon Dash Cart
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Justice Department bites Apple with iPhone suit
Speed Read The lawsuit alleges that the tech company monopolized the smartphone industry
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
House votes to force TikTok to sell or face US ban
speed read The House passed a bill to ban TikTok on national security grounds unless it sells to a non-Chinese company
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Apple kills its secret electric car project
Speed Read Many of the people from Project Titan are being reassigned to work on generative AI
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published