Authorities swoop on alleged Discord leaker

US authorities have arrested 21-year-old Jack Teixeira for allegedly leaking classified US government and military documents via a Discord server.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) swooped on a Massachusetts residence on Friday morning Australian time and took Teixeira into custody “without incident”.

In a brief statement, the FBI said that since late last week, it “has aggressively pursued investigative leads” after the classified information was shared on social media channels.

Investigations into how the materials leaked moved particularly quickly over the past 24 hours, after the Washington Post revealed they came from a closed chat group on Discord, before being leaked more broadly.

Discord said earlier it was cooperating with the investigation.

The US department of justice said Teixeira is "an employee of the United States Air Force National Guard." The New York Times reported that Teixeira is in the intelligence wing.

“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,” the FBI said.

Teixeira will have an initial appearance at the US District Court.