A cache of classified U.S. documents leaked online has indicated the thought processes behind several U.S. military campaigns. The documents were leaked on a platform called Discord, allegedly by Jack Teixeira of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.
Discord, the chat platform, is subsequently the subject of scrutiny after intelligence document were leak. Discord began in 2015 and it was originally dedicated for video gamers to discuss strategy. The strong privacy features and air of secrecy have seen the platform transform into a secure space to have secret discussions.
Looking into the subject from an academic standpoint is James Ivory, a Virginia Tech professor who researches social media and video game use related to military simulation. Ivory assesses activities within these communities to political extremism and intelligence risks.
With Discord, Ivory notes that the community has become a mainstream platform for individual and community messaging. These gaming communities focused around military simulation games are also environments where political extremism flourishes.
Here Ivory finds: “The fact that Discord is primarily used for privacy groups and community conversations rather than public posts introduces security concerns because the privacy of its groups may give the false illusion that material shared in closed forums will stay in those closed forums.”
Hence the task of monitoring the online activities through such communities is close to impossible.
However, this also leads to false confidence by many of the participants, as Ivory observes: “As we have seen in this case, what starts private may not stay private, but it may certainly be easy for people in closed online groups on Discord to have the false belief that what they share, will stay there.”
The recent incident is also likely to fuel comments and conversations online. According to Ivory: “That intelligence activity, by actors with both good and bad intent regarding global safety and security, will no doubt continue and intensify in the private groups of Discord as well as other online communities.”
There is also the possibility of a repeat event, as Ivory finds: “As long as we have young people working in defense with access to classified intelligence information who are involved in these small online communities and private discussion groups, the temptation will be there to share information to gain clout–even though the consequences for both them and the people affected by the leaks are extremely serious.”
He further finds there are a lot of young men – civilians and active duty – interested in military culture who are very active in gaming and in online communities where extreme views are shared.
This leads Ivory to conclude: “We certainly have a precedent of online groups related to military simulation being places where extreme views and sensitive documents are shared—and they spread from there.”
