Air Force Intel Analyst Shared Classified Materials on Discord: FBI

The Department of the Air Force seal hangs on the wall at the Pentagon in Washington on Feb. 24, 2009. Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images

An Air Force intelligence analyst allegedly shared classified U.S. intelligence online with members of the anti-government extremist Boogaloo movement, according to a newly unsealed court filing.

Jason Gray, 28, was assigned to the 301st Intelligence Squadron with duty at a National Security Agency (NSA) facility at the Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson (JBER) in Anchorage, Alaska, according to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force search warrant affidavit (pdf).

However, Mr. Gray was reportedly “upset and disgruntled” about his transfer to JBER, sharing his disappointment over delays and the inefficiency of the process with officials, according to the affidavit, which is dated November 2022.

He later told officials with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations that he had created a Facebook page for followers of the Boogaloo movement under the name “CNN Journalist Support Group,” the court filing states.

The Boogaloo movement is a “loosely organized anti-government/anti-authority movement” whose adherents claim to be “planning for or seek to incite, a second American Civil War or second American Revolution,” referred to as the “boogaloo,” the affidavit states.

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), an American think tank based in Washington, D.C., while some members of the Boogaloo Movement “promote white supremacist beliefs” others have attended demonstrations “alongside racial justice protesters;” including those in the aftermath of the police murder of George Floyd, making it difficult to classify the political ideology of the movement.

The main goal of the movement is to incite violence and chaos and sow social divisions as a way of ushering in a second civil war, CSIS states.

Air Force Analyst ‘Shared Classified Image’

According to the FBI affidavit, Mr. Gray also admitted to taking part in several Discord channels in support of the Boogaloo movement and an investigation found he had shared a classified image, likely obtained via his access to NSA intelligence, on the platform.

Mr. Gray is believed to have shared the image with seven other individuals, who were not named in the affidavit.

It is not clear what the image he allegedly shared contained, however, the Defense Department and the NSA immediately restricted Gray’s access to all classified materials and documents after his alleged actions were revealed.

Despite sharing the classified image, Mr. Gray was not charged in relation to the alleged leak.

However, separate court filings, which have been widely reported, show Mr. Gray did plead guilty to one count of distributing child porn last November.

He was sentenced to 60 months imprisonment and 25 years supervised release last after an investigation led to the discovery of what appeared to be child pornography images on his phone. Officers said a search of Mr. Gray’s phone also showed he had exchanged child sexual abuse material with another user on the chat app Kik.

A U.S. Air Force spokesperson confirmed to Axios that Mr. Gray was “no longer in the Air Force” but did not comment further on his sentencing.

The Epoch Times has contacted the U.S. Air Force for further comment.

The Discord logo and the suspect, national guardsman Jack Teixeira, reflected in an image of the Pentagon in Washington on April 13, 2023. Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

Ex-Air National Guard Member Pleads Guilty

Separately, a spokesperson for Discord told the Washington Post that the firm had “cooperated with the law enforcement investigation once notified, including by producing data that was lawfully requested.

“The sharing of classified documents poses a significant, complex challenge for Discord as it does for any online platform,” the spokesperson continued, noting that “currently, there is no structured process for the government to communicate their determinations to online platforms.”

The newly unsealed affidavit comes shortly after Jack Teixeira, the former Massachusetts Air National Guard member accused of leaking top-secret Pentagon documents, pleaded guilty to the charges.

Mr. Teixeira, 22, was arrested in April last year at a home in southern Massachusetts, roughly 18 miles east of Providence, Rhode Island, following a Department of Justice (DOJ) probe into a leak of highly classified materials on Discord, Telegram, and the 4chan website.

According to prosecutors, Mr. Teixeira, who held a high-security clearance, had been sharing top-secret documents online for months, resulting in one of the most serious U.S. national security breaches in recent years.

The leaked documents included highly classified information regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, such as a recent battle map from the Donetsk area in eastern Ukraine, as well as information on China, and Israel, according to officials.

Mr. Teixeira had initially pleaded not guilty to six felony counts of the willful retention and transmission of national defense information but later pleaded guilty.

In exchange for his guilty plea, the Department of Justices agreed to not charge Mr. Teixeira with Espionage Act violations.

The former Air National Guardsman was sentenced to 16 years behind bars.