The alleged author of one of the biggest US secret service scandals faces several years in prison. The 21-year-old military worker named Jack Teixeira was brought before a judge in Boston, Massachusetts for the first time.
The National Guard’s IT specialist is charged with unauthorized removal, storage and transmission of classified and national defense information. If convicted, he could face several years behind bars. The FBI arrested Teixeira on Thursday.
Dozens of secret documents from US agencies on the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine have been circulating on the Internet for weeks: information on arms deliveries, assessments of what is happening in the war, but also details on alleged US spying actions against partners. Teixeira is suspected of having published this in a closed chat room. From there, they spread to other areas of the Internet until authorities and the media became aware of them.
Leak started in December 2022
The 21-year-old is said to have led a chat group on the Discord platform, which is popular with video gamers. According to court documents released on Friday, he first shared the explosive information in transcripts with the group from December last year. Since January he is also said to have uploaded photos of printed documents.
The court documents show that the investigators also tracked him down with the help of invoices from the Internet platform with that very chat group. Due to his role as an IT specialist, Teixeira had official clearance to view top-secret government documents. The television station CNN reported that the responsible judge had ordered in the hearing that the 21-year-old remain in custody for the time being. Another hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
US media first reported on the leak shortly before Easter. According to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, he only found out about the data leak a week ago, although the material had been floating around the web for weeks. After that, the government rotated to placate partners – and most importantly, to find the leak. The government initiated investigations that led to the arrest a few days later.
Biden orders better protection of sensitive information
For the US government, not only the security gap itself and the disclosure of sensitive material are a problem, but also the external impact on the international stage: Questions arise as to how reliable the USA is, how good it is at keeping its own secrets and those of its partners protect and how loyal they are to allies.
House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Turner, a Republican, complained that the disclosure also had a negative impact on relations with international partners. He wrote on Twitter that they are still trying to find out how much classified information was leaked and how the consequences could be mitigated. The committee will also investigate why this “went unnoticed for weeks”.
President Joe Biden instructed the military and intelligence agencies to take additional measures to protect sensitive information. The dissemination of national defense information should be further restricted. Secretary of Defense Austin commissioned an investigation into access to intelligence within his department. Control procedures would also be checked to prevent “such an incident from happening again”. Every US military member and Pentagon employee with access to classified documents has a legal and moral duty to protect them and report suspicious activity.
