The 21-year-old National Guardsman suspected of leaking troves of classified U.S. intelligence documents was arrested Thursday by FBI agents at his home in Dighton, Mass.
Aerial footage showed the suspect, Jack Teixeira, surrendering to authorities who pointed rifles at him from behind the cover of an armored vehicle.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the FBI arrested Teixeira "in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information."
Media outlets including the Washington Post and New York Times pinned Teixeira as the source of the leak, alleging he shared the documents, which included sensitive reports on the war in Ukraine and accounts of the United States' spying on allies, with friends on a messaging app called Discord. It's unclear how Teixeira, who is a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, would have gotten hold of the documents.
Teixeira's arrest comes hours after President Joe Biden told reporters that federal authorities are "getting close" to identifying the leaker. "There is a full-blown investigation going on with the intelligence community and Justice Department and they are getting close," Biden said Thursday while abroad in Ireland.
The intelligence leak, described as the most damaging in a decade, has complicated U.S. relations with allies, including South Korea, where citizens have expressed outrage over reports that the documents show the United States spied on senior South Korean officials.