FBI arrests 21-year-old National Guardsman for 'criminal' US intelligence leaks

FBI arrests U.S. Air Force National Guard employee over the leaks online of classified U.S. documents © Thomson Reuters

The FBI on Thursday arrested Jack Douglas Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the U.S. Air National Guard, over the leaks online of classified documents that embarrassed Washington with allies around the world.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Teixeira "in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information."

"FBI agents took Teixeira into custody earlier this afternoon without incident," Garland told reporters in a brief statement at the Justice Department.

The FBI said its agents had made an arrest and were conducting "authorized law enforcement activity at a residence in North Dighton, Massachusetts."

"Since late last week the FBI has aggressively pursued investigative leads and today's arrest exemplifies our continued commitment to identifying, pursuing, and holding accountable those who betray our country's trust and put our national security at risk," a bureau statement said.

Video played on news channels showed heavily armed officers accompanying a young man wearing a gray T-shirt and red shorts into a waiting car. His head was bowed and his hair was close-cropped.

The Justice Department did not say what charges Teixeira would face, although they will likely involve criminal charges of willfully retaining and transmitting national defense information.

FBI arrests U.S. Air Force National Guard employee over the leaks online of classified U.S. documents
©Thomson Reuters

Brandon Van Grack, a former Justice Department national security prosecutor now with the law firm Morrison Foerster, said the likely charges could carry up to 10 years' imprisonment, even if Teixeira did not intend to cause harm.

"I think this is someone who is facing on the higher end of exposure for years in prison ... because the leaks were so damaging," Van Grack said.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston said Teixeira is expected to make his initial appearance on Friday.

ASSESSING DAMAGE

The documents were posted online on a social media site in March, and perhaps earlier, but did not spread widely until last week.

U.S. officials have been hunting for the person responsible, while assessing and seeking to limit damage from the release of the intelligence reports, which reveal purported details of Ukrainian military vulnerabilities and information about allies including Israel, South Korea and Turkey.

It is believed to be the most serious security breach since more than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010.

The Justice Department opened a formal criminal probe last week, after a referral from the Department of Defense. The leak was a "deliberate, criminal act," the Pentagon said on Thursday, adding that the military had taken steps to review distribution lists and ensure people receiving information had a need to know.

A military vehicle heads toward Joint Base Cape Cod
©Thomson Reuters

Reuters has reviewed more than 50 of the documents, labeled "Secret" and "Top Secret" but has not independently verified their authenticity. The number of documents leaked is likely to be over 100.

President Joe Biden, who is on a three-day tour of Ireland, said he was not overly concerned about the leak.

"I'm concerned that it happened, but there is nothing contemporaneous that I'm aware of," Biden told reporters.

A man named Jack Teixeira was promoted to Airman 1st Class in July, according to a post on the 102nd Intelligence Wing's official Facebook page. The unit did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

A number of countries have questioned the veracity of some of the leaked documents, including Britain, which said there was "a serious level of inaccuracy" in the information.

U.S. officials believe most of the materials are genuine. Some, however, appear to have been altered to show inflated estimates for Ukrainian battlefield casualties in the war with Russia as well as understated numbers for Russian forces.

Other documents include an assessment that France is likely to struggle to achieve security goals in west and central Africa, and information about Brazilian officials' plan to visit Moscow in April to discuss a Ukraine mediation scheme.

According to a leaked Pentagon document, Serbia has agreed to supply arms to Kyiv or has sent them already, despite the country's professed neutrality in the Ukraine war.

The New York Times first reported Teixeira's identity earlier on Thursday, describing him a National Guardsman who led Thug Shaker Central, an online group where about 20 to 30 people shared their love of guns, racist memes and video games. The Times cited interviews and documents it reviewed.

DPR Kecam Dirut PT Sarinah Larang Karyawan Pakai Jilbab

Direktur Utama PT Sarinah, Fetty Kwartati (dua dari kanan).

Anggota Komisi VI DPR, Andre Rosiade mengungkapkan, pihaknya mendapat laporan adanya karyawan PT Sarinah dilarang menggunakan jilbab. Jika masih memakai jilbab, sang karyawan dilarang berjualan, termasuk SPG. Andre pun meminta agar isu larangan pemakaian jilbab dihilangkan.

Andre menyebutkan, larangan menggunakan jilbab itu disampaikan langsung oleh Direktur Utama PT Sarinah, Fetty Kwartati. "Mereka menyampaikan kepada kami di bawah kepemimpinan Dirut Sarinah yang baru mereka dilarang berhijab," kata Andre kepada Wakil Menteri BUMN II, Kartiko Wirjoatmodjo saat rapat dengar pendapat di gedung DPR, Senayan, Jakarta Pusat, pada hari Kamis, 14/04/2023.

Andre pun mengecam dan meminta agar pengelola PT Sarinah tidak melakukan diskriminasi terhadap karyawan. Dia berharap agar manajemen PT Sarinah mengikuti langkah Garuda Indonesia, dengan memperbolehkan pramugari mereka menggunakan hijab. "Masa orang selama ini pakai jilbab, tapi Dirut Sarinah melarang orang pakai hijab," ucap Andre.

Terkait hal tersebut, Direktur Utama PT Sarinah Fetty Kwartati pun buka suara. Fetty membantah kabar adanya larangan penggunaan hijab, baik di toko maupun di kantor PT Sarinah.

"Di Sarinah tidak ada ketentuan atau aturan menggunakan hijab di kantor. Jadi, karyawan bisa menggunakan hijab sesuai dengan kepercayaan masing-masing dan di Sarinah banyak sekali karyawan yang berhijab, mulai dari spg, lalu bagian staf kantor, bagian gudang, sampai ke direksi pun banyak yang menggunakan hijab,"ujarnya hari Kamis, 13/04/2023.

"Jadi tidak ada ketentuan atau larangan seperti itu. Dari dulu tidak ada ketentuan atau pelarangan atau aturan dilarang menggunakan hijab," tegasnya.

Sebelumnya diberitakan, Anggota Komisi VI DPR RI Fraksi Gerindra Andre Rosiade telah menerima aduan dan laporan dari karyawan PT Sarinah yang dilarang menggunakan hijab saat bekerja. Hal ini diungkapkan ketika sedang rapat kerja dengan Wakil Menteri BUMN II, Kartika Wirjoatmodjo.

Andre menjelaskan sewaktu PT Sarinah masih dipimpin Ira Puspitadewi sebagai Direktur Utama, seluruh karyawannya tidak dilarang bahkan diberikan kebebasan untuk menggunakan hijab.

Namun, Andre mempertanyakan mengapa kebijakan yang baik itu justru diganti oleh Dirut PT Sarinah yang baru yakni Fetty Kwartati. Andre menilai kebijakan tersebut diskriminatif adanya.

"Dulu waktu zaman Bu Ira masih jadi Dirut Sarinah itu boleh karyawan berjilbab, kok ganti Dirut yang baru malah sekarang dilarang pakai jilbab?"sesal Andre.

Karena itu, Andre mendesak Wakil Menteri BUMN II Kartika Wirjoatmodjo untuk memanggil Dirut PT Sarinah Fetty Kwartati terkait adanya informasi dan aduan dari karyawan yang dilarang menggunakan hijab tersebut.

Google faces judge's questions as it asks court to toss U.S. antitrust lawsuit

A sign is pictured outside a Google office near the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California, U.S., May 8, 2019. REUTERS/Paresh Dave

Google faced pointed questions from a judge on Thursday as it argued that the U.S. Justice Department's allegations that it broke antitrust law to build and maintain its dominance of search are flawed and that the agency's lawsuit should be thrown out.

The government, which filed its lawsuit in the waning days of the Trump administration, has argued that Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google acts illegally in paying billions of dollars each year to smartphone makers like Apple, LG, Motorola and Samsung, carriers like Verizon and browsers like Mozilla to be the default search for their customers.

Judge Amit Mehta actively questioned Google's lawyer, John Schmidtlein. Mehta pressed him, for example, on if being dominant in search means that Google's search engine will improve faster than its competitors. He also asked if the deals gave the company an "anticompetitive" advantage.

Google's Schmidtlein replied: "Offering a superior product, winning business on the merits is never unlawful."

The judge also asked Schmidtlein why the company paid to be the default search engine on devices.

Schmidtlein answered that the goal was to expose people to Google's products and to make it easy for them. "There is nothing wrong or nefarious about that," he said.

The Justice Department's Kenneth Dintzer argued that because of its gigantic market share, Google could not legally make the same deals that a less powerful search engine company could make.

In particular, he said, Google should not have made agreements with Apple that requires that Google be the default search engine.

LOSS OF INNOVATION?

Google argued in court filings that the payments at issue are legal revenue-sharing deals and not illegal efforts to exclude rivals.

The government had also argued that Google's dominance likely meant lost innovation, leading Mehta to highlight the rise of ChatGPT.

Dintzer responded that it's hard to predict what technological advances could have happened without Google's dominance.

The decision on summary judgment will be decided by Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The case is slated for trial in September.

Google's motion is the Internet company's latest attempt to end several costly and time-consuming lawsuits from state and federal governments aimed at reining in its market power.

The Justice Department sued Google in 2020, accusing the $1 trillion company of illegally using its market muscle to hobble rivals in the biggest challenge to the power and influence of Big Tech since it sued Microsoft Corp in 1998. A settlement left the company intact although the decision to rein in Microsoft left room for Google, which was founded in 1998, and others to thrive.

Since this lawsuit was filed, Google has been hit with other antitrust complaints. The Justice Department filed a second lawsuit in January accusing the company of abusing its dominance of the digital advertising business.

A group of states led by Texas also sued on ad tech in 2020 while states led by Utah filed a lawsuit in 2021 saying the company broke antitrust law in handling its play store.

Elon Musk Calls For Defunding NPR After It Quits Twitter

Tesla CEO Elon Musk (right) leaves the Phillip Burton Federal Building on January 24, 2023, in San Francisco, California.
JUSTIN SULLIVAN / GETTY IMAGES

The US state-sponsored media network National Public Radio (NPR) announced on Wednesday that it is ceasing its activity on the social media platform Twitter after the site labeled it a government-funded organization.

After National Public Radio said it would no longer post new content to its 52 official Twitter accounts, Elon Musk proposed defunding the news organization.

“Defund NPR,” Musk wrote on Twitter.

The US state-sponsored media network National Public Radio announced on Wednesday that it is ceasing its activity on the social media platform Twitter after the site labeled NPR as “US state-affiliated media” and more recently “government-funded media."

The prior label had typically been applied to Twitter accounts of state media outlets in non-Western countries such as China and Russia that were accused of lacking editorial independence.

NPR was founded following the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which issued the congressional corporate charter for NPR’s parent organization, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Twitter also flagged the accounts of the BBC as "state-funded media."

In 2020, Twitter's administration reported that it had begun tagging media pages that it believed were under the control of authorities, as well as the accounts of authorities of permanent members of the UN Security Council, key government officials, including foreign ministers, ambassadors, official representatives, and major diplomatic leaders.

“Federal funding is essential to public radio’s service to the American public and its continuation is critical for both stations and program producers, including NPR,” the message on NPR’s website says.

“NPR literally says federal funding is *essential* on their website right now,” Musk added. “What have you got against the truth @NPR?”

Defund @NPR

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 12, 2023

NPR says it derives “less than 1 percent of its $300 million annual budget from the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting.” The bulk of its revenue comes from sponsorship deals and customer fees.

The Post has reached out to NPR for comment on Musk’s remarks.

Twitter initially slapped NPR’s main account with a “state-affiliated media” label – the same designation it gives to outlets such as Russia Today and China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.

NPR literally says Federal funding is *essential* on their website right now at https://t.co/QA8TUZxmNO

What have you got against the truth @NPR? pic.twitter.com/3W0X0MsZYW

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 13, 2023

At the time, Musk cited Twitter’s guidelines that defined “state-affiliated media” as “outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.”

NPR argued the label was inaccurate because it is run as an independent nonprofit.

After facing pushback from NPR and other critics, Twitter softened its stance and changed the label to “government-funded media.” The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBS) has the same label on Twitter.

Despite the change, NPR said it was quitting Twitter altogether, citing concerns that Musk’s moves would impact its journalistic credibility

“NPR’s organizational accounts will no longer be active on Twitter because the platform is taking actions that undermine our credibility by falsely implying that we are not editorially independent,” NPR said in a statement

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) also announced plans to quit Twitter after the site gave its account the same “government-funded media” label.

“Defund @NPR,” Musk wrote on Wednesday afternoon as he fired off numerous tweets attempting to justify the decisions that ultimately drove the outlet off the website. Earlier that day, NPR said that it will no longer be posting on the website after Twitter labeled its account “state-affiliated media.”

“At this point I have lost my faith in the decision-making at Twitter,” said NPR CEO John Lansing, adding that he “would need some time to understand whether Twitter can be trusted again,” before deciding whether NPR would ever return to the platform

Since the declaration, Chief Twit has taken to his own platform to share an email between himself and NPR Tech Reporter Bobby Allyn. In the email, Allyn questioned if the news outlet's response will 'cause a chain reaction among news [organizations].' 

'What's your reaction?' Allyn questioned the billionaire. 

Musk simply replied on Twitter: 'Defund NPR.'

Earlier on Wednesday, NPR revealed it would stop using the popular social media app over the tag, saying: 'We are not putting our journalism on platforms that have demonstrated an interest in undermining our credibility and the public's understanding of our editorial independence. 

'We are turning away from Twitter but not our audiences and communities.' 

NPR also noted in an article that the company only receives less than one percent of its $300million budget through the federally-funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

In its final tweets, the company plugged its other social platforms, including Facebook, where it posted a link, titled: 'NPR quits Twitter after being falsely labeled as "state-affiliated media."'

NPR is boarding up its Twitter pages to protect its credibility, according to NPR President and CEO John Lansing. 

'I would never have our content go anywhere that would risk our credibility,' he said in the article. 'At this point, I have lost my faith in the decision-making at Twitter. I would need some time to understand whether Twitter can be trusted again.' 

In addition, three of NPR's member stations - KCRW, WESA, and WEKU - have also gone dark on Twitter.  

Fort Lauderdale airport under water as south Florida is hit with historic flooding

Torrents of water inundated roads, impeding travel to the international airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which was closed. Credit Credit... Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel, via Associated Press

Thunderstorms that pummeled Fort Lauderdale and other parts of southeastern Florida with up to two feet of rain were expected to pick up again on Thursday, forecasters said, after the storms trapped motorists in floodwaters and left travelers stranded inside a shuttered international airport.

Storms are a way of life in South Florida, but more than 25 inches of rain fell at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport over a 24-hour period, according to a preliminary estimate released by the National Weather Service

If confirmed, the rainfall total would smash Fort Lauderdale’s one-day record of 14.59 inches, which was set on April 25, 1979. The city, which lies in Broward County on Florida’s Atlantic coast, is one of the largest in the state.

The airport, which closed early Wednesday evening, had been expected to fully reopen at noon on Thursday. But the airport later announced that it was delaying the reopening for flight activity until 5 a.m. on Friday because of debris and water on the runways.

The closures, flooding and bad weather combined to cause hourslong traffic jams

On the ground, it was clear why. One local television station, 7 News Miami, showed kayakers paddling through the streets in Hollywood, navigating past a stranded rental car. In Fort Lauderdale, local news outlets broadcast images of runways at the airport inundated with water, and of residents, holding their belongings, wading through dark, waist-high water in their streets.

There were no immediate reports of injuries, but many roads in Fort Lauderdale were impassable on Thursday because of the flooding, the city announced. It said crews were dispatched to clear storm drains, and special trucks, outfitted with tanks and a vacuum hose, were deployed.

“However, because of the extreme amount of water, most areas will need to drain naturally,” the city said.

Broward County schools were closed on Thursday.

“I’ve lived here my entire life,” said Dawn Grayson, 49, who sat in traffic for four hours after arriving at the airport to learn that her flight to Las Vegas on Wednesday night had been canceled. “I’ve never seen anything like that happen before.”

The additional rainfall expected on Thursday was not likely to be as heavy, but it would fall on ground that is already saturated, raising the possibility of further localized flooding, the Weather Service said. A flood warning for parts of Broward County and other areas of South Florida was scheduled to remain in effect until noon.Other parts of South Florida were under a flood watch, indicating a lower level of risk, until Thursday evening. City facilities in Fort Lauderdale will not reopen until Friday.

The city, which lies in Broward County on Florida’s Atlantic coast, is one of the largest in the state. Its one-day rainfall record of 14.59 inches occurred on April 25, 1979.

Ms. Grayson said she and three family members left their home in nearby Miami-Dade County nearly five hours before their flight. They all work for the family business and were heading to Las Vegas for a conference.

The drive, in torrential rain, took an hour, or three times longer than usual, Ms. Grayson said. Along the way, she saw water cascading off a flooded runway and cars stuck in floodwaters.

By the time they arrived at the airport, it was closed, several parking garages were flooded, and airport staff and Uber drivers had joined the ranks of dazed airline passengers who were sheltering in place and wondering how to get home.

“I didn’t quite understand how we even got out of there because the weather was so bad,” Ms. Grayson said by phone early Thursday. “But we did, and then driving home was extremely scary.”

Late Wednesday night, her seven-hour ordeal ended where it had started: at her home. Her mother and sister managed to rebook flights to Las Vegas out of Miami. But she and her husband were not able to rebook, so they canceled their trip.

That may be just as well because floodwaters have seeped under the large doors of their workplace, in a warehouse district of Miami-Dade County, and someone needs to clean up.

“They’re going, and we’re going back to work tomorrow,” she said with a laugh. “Back to life.”

Heavy rains also prompted South Florida’s high-speed commuter rail line to shut dow with train service between Miami and Fort Lauderdale suspended on Wednesday.

Nearly 6,000 customers in Florida were without electricity on Thursday morning, according to utility tracker poweroutage.us.

Extreme rainfall events have increased in frequency and intensity in the US over the last 70 years as the planet warms.

For each degree of warming, the air’s capacity for water vapor goes up by about 7 per cent, leading to more intense downpours, Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.

Videos: Spontaneous Protest Against Pension Reform in Paris Turns Violent

A spontaneous demonstration began in Paris as part of a protest against the pension reform an hour before the official march was scheduled to start at the Place de l'Opera, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Thursday

The spontaneous protest against pension reform in Paris has turned violent, as clashes have erupted between protesters and police officers, Sputnik’s correspondent reports from the scene. The police have used tear gas to disperse the crowd

The police intervened when radicals from the “black bloc” movement began smashing bank and store windows. They also threw stones and paint cans at law enforcement officers.

Earlier in the day, protesters gathered in the central Paris at the Gare de Lyon railway station at the call of General Confederation of Labor and Solidarity trade unions. The crowd consisting of railway and trade union workers piled up wooden pallets and stated they intended to hold a "surprise action," the Sputnik correspondent reported.

Later, the protesters managed to occupy a building owned by the LVMH (LVMH Louis Vuitton - Moet Hennessy ) luxury products maker in the 8th District of Paris. There, they unfolded a banner saying "The reform to the trash, we will not give up!" and shouting "Strike, block, Macron get out!" and setting hand flares alight.

Protesters even blocked the Constitutional Council building with a trash bin barricade that was taken apart shortly afterwards. Later, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin issued a ban on any demonstrations near the Council.

Mass protests across the country have started again in France on the eve of the Constitutional Council's final decision on the pension reform. On April 14, the body will vote on whether the bill complies with current national legislation. If it is approved, the law will go into effect on September 1.

On March 16, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced that the government had adopted a law on raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030 by invoking Article 49.3 of the constitution, which allowed the bill to get passed without parliamentary approval. The decision sparked a strong backlash, prompting people to take to the streets across the country.

Saudi Arabia and Syria discuss political solutions to latter’s crises

Saudi Arabia and Syria have pledged to seek a political solution to the crises besetting the latter, according to a joint statement released after a meeting between the two countries’ foreign ministers in Jeddah on Wednesday.

Saudi’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Syria’s Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad held discussions on Syria’s unity, security, stability and territorial integrity.

The ministers welcomed the start of procedures for resuming consular services and flights between the two countries, according to the statement.

The two sides also agreed on the importance of resolving Syria’s humanitarian challenges and creating a suitable environment for aid to reach all regions of the country.

Among the issues discussed was finding ways to ensure the return of external and internal refugees to their homes.

The ministers also stressed the importance of enhancing Syria’s security, and introducing measures to tackle terrorism, drug smuggling and trafficking.

National reconciliation in Syria remained a key outcome of all efforts now being undertaken, the ministers stated.

Mekdad thanked Saudi Arabia for its assistance to resolve the crisis in Syria, and for the aid sent to the country after the recent earthquakes.

As part of its relief efforts in northern Syria and southern Turkiye in February, the Kingdom sent 16 aircraft with more than 85 tons of aid, including 1,000 tents, 13,329 articles of clothing, 3,600 blankets and 3,600 mattresses.

The Kingdom’s Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed Al-Khuraiji on Wednesday welcomed Mekdad at King Abdulaziz Airport in Jeddah.