Reports : Government Secrets Leaker Is "young, racist gun enthusiast who worked on a military base,"
The man responsible for the leak of hundreds of classified Pentagon documents is reported to be a young, racist gun enthusiast who worked on a military base, and who was seeking to impress two dozen fellow members of an internet chat group.
The Washington Post interviewed a teenage member of the group, who described the man, referred to by the initials “OG”, from their online correspondence, and shared photographs and videos. The Post also viewed a video of a man identified as OG at a shooting range with a large rifle.
“He yells a series of racial and antisemitic slurs into the camera, then fires several rounds at a target,” the report said. OG told fellow members of the same internet group that he worked on a military base, which was not named in the report, where his job involved viewing large amounts of classified information.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/13/pentagon-leaks-og-source-military-base-discord-report
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The Washington Post article is too long to post in full.
It appears the leak of the government secrets is part of a QAnon like cult burgeoning online.
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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 .
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/04/12/discord-leaked-documents/
...The breadth of the military and intelligence reports was extensive. For months, OG regularly uploaded page after page of classified U.S. assessments, offering a window into how deeply American intelligence had penetrated the Russian military, showing that Egypt had planned to sell Russia tens of thousands of rockets and suggesting that Russian mercenaries had approached Turkey, a NATO ally, to buy weapons to fight against Ukraine.
At least one of the documents appeared to have been printed from Intellipedia, a data-sharing system that intelligence agencies use to collaborate and post reports and articles.
The documents were another lesson for younger members in how OG thought the world really worked. The member said OG wasn’t hostile to the U.S. government, and he insisted that he was notworking on behalf of any country’s interests. “He is not a Russian operative. He is not a Ukrainian operative,” the member said. The room on the server where he posted the documents was called “bear-vs-pig,” meant to be a snide jab at Russia and Ukraine, and an indication that OG took no sides in the conflict.
But 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.”
OG told his onlinecompanions that the government hid horrible truths from the public. He claimed, according to the members, that the government knew in advance that a white supremacist intended to go on a shooting rampage at a Buffalo supermarket in May 2022. The attack left 10 dead , all of them Black, and wounded three more. OG said federal law enforcement officials let the killings proceed so they could argue for increased funding, a baseless notion that the member said he believes and considers an example of OG’s penetrating insights about the depth of government corruption.
OG’s group itself had a dark side. The Discord server’s eventual name, Thug Shaker Central, was a racist allusion, and signaled to members that they were free to hurl epithets and crude jokes. The young member expressed some regret for their behavior but seemed to shrug off the offensive remarks as a clumsy attempt at humor.
It was not “a fascist recruiting server,” he told The Post.
One thing the members were not supposed to do was talk about the secrets OG had shared with them, including the classified documents.
“Most people in the server were smart enough as to kind of realize that … they shouldn’t be posted anywhere else,” the member said. And yet, the group contained foreign citizens— including fromRussia and Ukraine, the members said — a defiance of the NOFORN warning printed across the top of so many documents OG shared.
The member estimated that the server hosted people from Europe, Asia and South America. “Just about every walk of life.” Of the roughly 25 active members who had access to the bear-vs-pig channel, about half were located overseas, the member said. The ones who seemed most interested in the classified material claimed to be from mostly “Eastern Bloc and those post-Soviet countries,” he said. “The Ukrainians had interest as well,” which the member chalked up to interest in the war ravaging their homeland.....
related
https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1646508885933539329
The room on the server where he posted the documents was called ‘bear [Russia]-vs-pig [Ukraine]’....he had a dark view of the government. He spoke of the U.S., particularly law enforcement and the intel community, as a sinister force that sought to suppress its citizens...”
The leakers’ views on the Buffalo shooting position him as a guy who’d be a J6 “truther.” Also—“Russian intelligence operatives have been suspected of befriending gamers who they believe work for intelligence agencies and encouraging them to divulge classified information.”
Every word paints this, implicitly, as a Trumpist op. “On April 5, classified docs assessing the war in Ukraine were posted on Russian Telegram channels and the message board platform 4chan, and began migrating to Twitter. One image, showing a March 1 Ukraine status update...
“...had been crudely doctored to inflate the number of Ukrainian casualties and downplay those on the Russian side.” White, racist/antisemitic gun nuts on 4chan who think the deep state in the FBI is staging mass shootings to push leftist legislation. See where this is going?
The leaker is religious, and his followers use the same paramilitary jargon ubiquitous among MAGA paramilitary cults (like “opsec”). Keep in mind these young white males are using this sort of language on a Discord ostensibly focused on *video games*. (My guess: Call of Duty.)
There are hints in the Post article that we are talking about incels here, but that remains unclear. The upshot is that every hard fact suggests a far-right political positioning and a view of Ukraine as the “pig” to Russia’s “bear.” It also tracks with far-right MAGA framing.
I mention all this because the position this feed has taken since January 6 is that we’re in the midst of a Trumpist insurrection that’s not just ideologically anti-government but intent on ending democracy in favor of a Christofascist theocracy. That tracks with all of this.
According to the Post, the leaker was well aware that roughly half of the private Discord group he was leaking classified US documents to comprised foreign nationals—including individuals from Russia. And he leaked the documents as someone who hates the supposed US deep state.
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Well, well.
Another budding QAnon type cult ?
Sadly, some nut cases do slip through the cracks. Especially if he had never been in trouble to alert the powers that be when his security clearances were granted. I for one hope the treasonous little turd gets the opportunity to make little rocks out of big rocks or it's equivalent currently is at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Unlike that other treasonous scumbag "Fast Eddie" Snowden.
If this is true he can kiss his ass goodbye. I doubt he'll find Leavenworth accommodating his treasonist acts.
anti- US government, pro-Russia, and racist. A trifecta.
Previously here, the speculation was a holdover of a civilian Trump appointee to DoD.
Instead of simply a Trump sycophant?
sycophant: insincere flatterer
Instead of simply a Trump insincere flatterer?
Remains to be seen.
I wasn't sure, but I certainly considered the possibility.
You got that right, Kavika. He will likely be caught and then will face serious prison time.
Every time I walked into Leavenworth prison I kept in mind that I was surrounded by patriotic trained killers that had (more or less) gone over to the dark side. I doubt that this traitorous punk could survive long in gen-pop.
I had to do more than my share of pre confinement physicals over the years on service members bound for Leavenworth for one reason or another. It was the quiet ones that made me nervous. Most of them were very calm and collected, but I never turned my back on any of them.
I used to go TDY to Ft. Leavenworth several times a year and would get a haircut from prisoners that had a good behavior record. Others got car washes or their groceries baged.
The warden and I used to spank golf balls down the long hill from his back patio. Trustees shagged them for us.
Maybe you are thinking of the US Penitentiary, Leavenworth which is several miles away from the US Disciplinary Barracks for male military prisoners on Ft Leavenworth. The commander there is called the Commandant.
If the damage is as bad as they are saying it is, this kid will be court-martialed, busted down to E-1 in rank, dishonorably discharged, and kept at Leavenworth or possibly wind up in the Supermax in Colorado.
You're right. After all these years it all kind of fades together.
Also did exams on the Leavenworth garrison commander, officers on post for C&C school and guards and prisoners at Lansing.
Mostly for USAA life insurance policies. But there were plenty of times I just went inside for blood draws for paternity tests.
The WaPost articles also described the Discord group as a place to share memes and post comments about each other in scatological terms. Sounds a little like News Talkers.
Well I hope it was worth it since it sounds like fuckhead has been identified.
Exactly, think of yourself as cheap entertainment providing a service to NT readers.
I wonder who the right wing conspiracy nuts will blame this on.
Who nows, initial reports indicate a foolish young man trying to be somebody within his little circle of friends/admirers. I expect he will do some serious time at Fort Leavenworth.
Maybe he will turn out to be a transvestite and become a hero on the left. Worked for the traitor Bradley Manning, he got a commutation from Obama.
There it is, you are blaming it on Obama. You guys are like clockwork.
You are smarter than that John. You know how to read.
I’m going to need a link.
I guess Fox should have given more coverage to Biden stealing boxes of classified documents .
Biden stole nothing.
It was Trump who actively and personally stole top secret documents.
The view from the far right
TBF, it won't be the first time that the opinion of a leaker is wholly determined by political affiliation.