Pentagon documents leak suspect to appear in court on Friday

Armed FBI officers converged on the home of a Massachusetts Air National Guard member considered to be the main person of interest in the leak of top secret military documents on the Ukraine war.

Investigators believe that the air national guardsman, who was part of the guard's intelligence unit, led the chat group where the images of the documents were initially posted.

US authorities have identified the suspect as 21-year-old Jack Teixeira. He has been arrested and taken into custody.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said that the arrest was in connection to the "alleged unauthorised removal, retention and transmission of classified national defence information."

Garland did not reveal a possible motive, but accounts of those in the online private chat room where the documents were disclosed have depicted Teixeira as motivated more by bravado than ideology.

Teixeira will appear in court in Massachusetts on Friday after being detained at his home in the town of North Dighton, Massachusetts, without resistance by FBI agents.

It was not immediately clear if the Cape Cod native had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

The Biden administration has scrambled for days to contain the fallout from the leaked information, which allegedly contains information on Ukraine’s defence capabilities and could expose assessments by allies on an array of intelligence matters.

The Pentagon called the disclosure a "very serious risk" to US national security.

Ukraine and NATO members may become more sceptical about information sharing with the US if the documents are confirmed as being tied to Ukraine's counter-offensive in the east.

Around 1.2 million US citizens, employed at various institutions and agencies, have access to documents labelled