President Biden Calls Leaked Pentagon Documents Alarming, But Has No Major Consequences

JAKARTA - The leak of sensitive classified US documents is "concerning," but the contents are not of "major repercussions," President Joe Biden said Thursday, with a suspect allegedly linked to the leaks secured.

The FBI arrested Jack Douglas Teixeira, a member of the United States Air National Guard, over allegations of online intelligence leaks impacting Washington and its allies on Thursday.

Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters that Teixeira was wanted "in connection with an investigation into the alleged unauthorized removal, storage and transmission of classified national defense information," Reuters reported April 14.

Meanwhile, President Biden also made his comments publicly, regarding leaks that revealed information about allies including Israel, South Korea to Turkey. Several countries have questioned the veracity of some of the leaked documents, including the UK, which says there is a "serious degree of inaccuracy" in the information.

"I was worried it was happening, but nothing happened at the time that I realized was of major consequence," President Biden said as quoted by The National News.

He added there was a "full" investigation involving the Justice Department and the intelligence community.

It is not known how many documents were leaked and estimates range from 50 to several hundred.

Documents may have been altered or used as part of a misinformation campaign, US officials said.

"They're somewhere on the web, and where exactly, and who has access at that point, we don't know. We really don't know," Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said Tuesday.

"We will continue to investigate and turn every stone until we find its source and the extent of it," he continued at the time.

One line of inquiry for the source of the leak appears to be Discord, a social media platform popular with people who play online games.

The Discord site hosts real-time voice, video, and text chats for groups and describes itself as a place "where you can be part of a school club, gaming group, or arts community around the world".

On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she urged social media companies to "avoid facilitating the circulation of material that is prejudicial to public safety and national security".

"We believe that social media companies have a responsibility to their users and the state to manage the private sector infrastructure that they create and then operate," he said.