Mises Wire

Want to Be a Whistleblower? You Better Support the Current Thing

This week, with camera crews well positioned with the perfect shot to take it all in, federal agents arrested a man for allegedly leaking classified Pentagon documents mostly related to U.S. involvement in the ongoing proxy war in Ukraine.

Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira has been accused of leaking sensitive U.S. intelligence documents on to a Discord server. For those who are unaware, Discord is an internet messaging platform for a variety of like-minded communities.

Image
js_1.jpg

According to the corporate media’s reporting, Teixeira was a member of an online Discord chat named Thug Shaker Central, which reportedly consisted of a couple dozen young men, who used it for unfiltered conversations and sharing memes. It was in this chat where Teixeira allegedly leaked the classified information.

One anonymous member of the chat told The New York Times:

“This guy was a Christian, anti-war, just wanted to inform some of his friends about what’s going on . . . We have some people in our group who are in Ukraine. We like fighting games, we like war games.”

Another member of the Discord chat told The Washington Post that Teixeira “had a dark view of the government.”

No kidding.

It seems there is a concerted effort in the legacy press to paint a personal picture of Mr. Teixeira as an anti-government Trump-loving right winger who is undeserving of whistleblower protections. It’s not that he’s harming the reputation of the Current Thing . . . He’s religious! He loves guns! He’s a “MAGAt!” Blue Anons, activated!

Somewhere along the way, the documents were reportedly moved from the Discord chat to a variety of public online forums.

It appears that the DOJ intends on throwing the book at Teixeira and charging him under the Espionage Act, which can carry a heavy prison sentence.

Your humble correspondent has not seen the primary documents first hand, but is aware of them due to media outlets reposting the classified images.

The dozens of leaked images and plans provided evidence that the Pentagon/NATO is much more intimately involved in its proxy war against Russia than previously understood. Specifically, U.S. troops have “mission critical functions” in Ukraine, despite never having declared war against Russia. And not only is the Biden Administration actively monitoring the Zelensky government’s every move, according to the docs, but they are also effectively running point on the war effort. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to those who understand the power dynamics of the Russia-Ukraine spat, but it certainly clears up any doubts about who is ultimately in charge in Kiev.

There’s lots of chatter on social media fairly suggesting that Teixeira must’ve been a patsy or something similar because a 21 year old shouldn’t have been able to have access to such important classified information. However, let me remind readers that the man formerly known as Bradley Manning was also a junior enlisted service member in his early 20s when he leaked a bunch of classified information to Wikileaks. The myth of institutional competence is just that: a myth.

The Uniparty in D.C. has been noticeably, but unsurprisingly silent about Teixeira’s potential protections as an alleged whistleblower. That’s because the alleged leaks attached to him could jeopardize the standing of the Current Thing. The people in charge in Washington only like universally-approved “whistleblowers,” and they declare the likes of Edward Snowden and co as traitors to democracy and such.

Will the institutional press corps stand up for speaking truth to power?

Of course not.

At the Pentagon presser today, the military’s churnalists paradoxically united behind demands for a more robust security state that can better shield information from the public.

Image
js_2.png

The Uniparty will tell you that a career intelligence agent who spied on the former president is a certified whistleblower. The same people will then tell you that the alleged Ukraine whistleblower is a criminal, because he almost made it more difficult for their racket to continue.

[Originally published at The Dossier on Substack.]

image/svg+xml
Note: The views expressed on Mises.org are not necessarily those of the Mises Institute.
What is the Mises Institute?

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard. 

Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.

Become a Member
Mises Institute