A 21-year-old Air National Guardsman in an intel wing led the online gaming chat group where hundreds of top secret documents leaked: report

• US officials are investigating how secret Pentagon documents were leaked online.
• The search seems to be focusing on Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National guard.

US officials and federal investigators have been scrambling to figure out how a trove of top secret documents wound up being shared in an online gaming forum before making their way around the internet, and the hunt for the source of the leak has drawn attention to an Air National Guardsman.

The leak of highly sensitive Pentagon documents has been traced back to a private Discord server, and the leader of the group is a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard who worked in the 102nd Intelligence Wing, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

A separate report from Reuters said that an Air National Guardsman suspected to be involved in the leak is expected to soon be arrested in Massachusetts.

The man who oversaw the group, called "Thug Shaker Central," has been identified by the Times as Jack Teixeira, who The Washington Post said went by the name "jackthedripper" online.

Multiple outlets have confirmed the report from the Times, and two US officials told the Times that investigators want to speak with Teixeira about the leaks. The outlet noted though that Teixeira has not yet been officially identified as a suspect.

Shortly after The New York Times identified the leader of the online group where the documents were shared as the 21-year-old Teixeira, The Wall Street Journal reported that Teixeira was based at North Carolina's Fort Bragg when the leaks occurred.

The Massachusetts National Guard and the Pentagon directed Insider to the Department of Justice, which did not immediately responded to Insider's request seeking comment on the reports.

The Discord chat group where US intelligence appears to have been first leaked had roughly two dozen members who were passionate about military gear, weapons, and religion, Washington Post reported on Wednesday. The Post identified the leader of the online group as a man referred to as OG by members, someone who said he worked on a military base and could access sensitive information.

The Post said the group's leader went dark after the documents leaked beyond the initial group chat. His last message instructed his online followers to "keep low and delete any information that could possibly relate to him." A group member told the outlet that when the group realized he was leaving, they "full-on sobbed and cried."

While dozens of secret Pentagon documents have been circulating around social media in recent weeks, the Post said it reviewed hundreds of photographs of classified documents that were shared in the server, adding that many of these were not made public.

Since they began making headlines last week, the leaked documents have triggered widespread alarms in Washington because they contain classified military and intelligence information about US allies, adversaries, and Russia's war in Ukraine. The Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into the leak, which experts say is the most significant intelligence leaks in decades.

Earlier on Thursday, President Joe Biden told reporters that there is a "full-blown investigation" into the source of the leaked documents. "And they're getting close," he said.