The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has traced the source that leaked highly classified documents from the Pentagon back to an Air National Guardsman. 21-year-old Jack Douglas Teixeira, who is a member of the US Air Force National Guard, was arrested in the state of Massachusetts earlier today.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed the arrest and said that Teixeira was currently being held “in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorised removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information”. During the investigation, it was surmised by the Washington Post that whoever leaked the documents was, in all possibility, someone of the suspect’s age, an American that grew up with gaming and guns in their life, and most importantly, would be a soldier within a military branch.
The investigation is still ongoing but US officials found that Teixeira also controlled a Discord server, through which he leaked the classified documents, all just so that he could get the one thing a person his age would do: he wanted to impress his friends. His channel wasn’t as big, with only 25 members in total, but the problem was that it included individuals that hailed from Europe, Asia, and South America. Unsurprisingly, once the authenticity of said documents were verified by other sources, they began spreading like wildfire, leading to the current predicament the US government is in right now.
As we reported yesterday, Teixeira’s leaking of US Pentagon documents is also the most potentially devastating, and could even be more impactful than those leaked by Edward Snowden back in 2013. Alleged content from the highly classified documents reportedly included references to Russian and Chinese activities, and about how the current war in Ukraine has drawn the latter country into helping the former. Not only that, but the leaked documents also seemingly point to the US spying on allied countries, including South Korea and Israel. Among other things.
Another matter that the US government will most certainly be asking, in light of Teixeira’s arrest, is how exactly a low-ranking Air Force National Guardsman even managed to get his hands on documents, some likely modified down the line, that was clearly not for his eyes.
Earlier in the month, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced that the national COVID-19 immunisation program will be launched at the end of February 2021. At the time, he mentioned the three phases to the program. It looks like we will be getting to know more beyond that tomorrow, with the launching of the immunisation plan handbook.
This comes via the official Twitter account of the Special Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Committee (JKJAV). According to the tweet, the launch will take place at 9:30AM.
As per the accompanying image, the handbook will come with details on the COVID-19 immunisation program’s four main components. These include vaccine supply, vaccination phases, location and implementation of immunisation plan and workforce implementation.
Right now, we only have information on the first two. You can check on our previous reports regarding those. The latter two would naturally be important to complete the picture, as it were. This is especially with Malaysia getting two different types of vaccines. Earlier in January, Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine will likely head to urban areas while the AstraZeneca vaccine will be going to rural areas.
The tweet also comes with a reminder to register for your own COVID-19 vaccination via the MySejahtera app. Doing so will also get you a reminder to get the second dose of the vaccine.
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin once again appeared on the national TV to deliver a special address to Malaysians in relation to the on-going COVID-19 situation. Most of the contents are related to the justification of the emergency order that took place since 11 January 2021 but there is one particular part that caught our attention: the national COVID-19 immunization program.
In the speech, PM Muhyiddin stated that the program will begin at the end of February 2020. This is in line with the arrival of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that is expected to take place on 26 February according to the Director-General of Health, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. During the first phase of distribution which is scheduled to last until April, the COVID-19 vaccine will be provided to 500,000 frontliners.
After that, Phase 2 of the vaccine distribution will then take place from April to August 2021. 9.4 million people are expected to be covered in this particular phase which will be involving high-risk groups such as elderly of 60 years old and above alongside those that have chronic diseases as well as the disabled community.
As for the rest of the population, they will be able to obtain the COVID-19 vaccine starting from May 2021 until February 2022. Do note that the vaccination program is being performed on a voluntary basis and will only be administrated to individuals that are at least 18 years old.
PM Muhyiddin has also revealed that more than 600 vaccine distribution centres will be opened throughout Malaysia. Under the emergency ordinand, the government will be turning public and private health facilities as well as the stadium, convention centre, community halls, and universities into these centres.
He has also added that the Cabinet has agreed to appoint the Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, Khairy Jamaluddin as the coordinator of the program. On another hand, the Ministry of Health will continue to focus on combating the pandemic through health services.
Other information related to the national immunization program such as registration (which will apparently be done via MySejahtera) and the location of vaccine distribution centres will only be revealed at a later date, according to the PM. Well, we will keep you updated once this vital information is revealed by the authorities.
