Jack Teixeira: What we know about Pentagon leak suspect

It was a private online group with posts about video games, guns, memes - and highly classified US files.

The suspect at the centre of the leak that has embarrassed the US and its allies has been named as Air National Guardsman Jack Douglas Teixeira, 21.

Among the young men in a chatroom called Thug Shaker Central on a social media platform popular with gamers, he was reportedly known as "OG".

Now he faces charges under the Espionage Act.

He joined the force in 2019 and was enlisted in the 102nd Intelligence Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard - which is a reserve of the US Air Force.

Mr Teixeira was promoted last July to Airman 1st Class - a relatively junior position - and was based at Otis Air National Guard Base in western Cape Cod.

According to his service record, his official title is cyber transport systems journeyman.

Mr Teixeira was known as the undisputed leader of an invitation-only Discord chatroom created in 2020.

The room, named Thug Shaker Central, included roughly 20 to 30 members - mostly young men - from various countries.

The Washington Post reported that the group had swapped "memes, offensive jokes and idle chitchat", watched movies together and prayed.

A member of the chatroom said Mr Teixeira was a young, charismatic gun enthusiast.

Other members told the New York Times that Mr Teixeira was older than most in the group.

The Post reported he had told the group he worked in a facility where phones are banned.

Before he began sharing photos of the documents, he previously wrote up versions of the sensitive information and shared it to the chatroom.

Members of the online group seem to have had conflicting opinions behind why Mr Teixeira shared these documents.

"This guy was a Christian, anti-war, just wanted to inform some of his friends about what's going on," one teenager told The New York Times.

Another member said Mr Teixeira is a "smart person".

"He knew what he was doing when he posted these documents, of course. These weren't accidental leaks of any kind," the member told the Washington Post.

Mr Teixeira's family home is located 40 miles (64km) south of Boston in North Dighton, Massachusetts.

Aerial footage showed about a dozen FBI officers surrounding the property and arresting Mr Teixeira on Thursday.

Mr Teixeira graduated in 2020 from Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School, reports CBS News, the BBC's US partner.