21-years-old US Air National Guardsman charged over Pentagon leaks

News, US April 16, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

U.S. Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira has been charged as the prime suspect in the leaks of classified Pentagon documents. 21 years old Teixeira was arrested by armed FBI agents at his family home in Massachusetts.

Deployed in the 102nd intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, Teixeira was the leading figure of the online gaming chat group called Thug Shaker Central. The chat group on the Discord platform was the place where sensitive documents were first leaked.

Soon after his arrest, Jack was brought in front of the court in Boston where he was charged with unauthorized transmission of defense documents and unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents. If proven guilty of these charges, he faces at least 15 years in prison.

The judge ruled that the suspect qualifies for a public defender. Teixeira can employ a lawyer to defend his case at public expense. He remains in custody.

Teixeira was employed by the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts National Guard and worked as an IT expert. He was appointed at the Otis Air National Guard Base in western Cape Cod and held a relatively junior rank of first-class Airman. He was titled a cyber defense operations journeyman. The National Guard is a reservist wing of the U.S. Air Force. Employees of the National Guards are not employed full-time in the military but can be deployed when necessary.

^{Federal authorities arrested Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman, who they believe is linked to a trove of leaked classified U.S. intelligence documents. (Image Credit: AP/via New York Times)}

Following the arrest of the young culprit behind the leaks, U.S. President Joe Biden released a statement thanking law enforcement agencies for their “rapid action” to investigate and find the source of the leaks. Biden said he had directed the U.S. military and intelligence to secure and limit the distribution of any more sensitive information.

Dozens of leaked documents from the Pentagon revealed crucial information about the U.S.’s assessment of the Ukraine war and embarrassing information about the U.S. spying on its own allies including South Korea and Israel. The event marks the most significant intelligence breaches of U.S. intelligence in decades, prompting a national security investigation in the United States.

Pentagon’s secret documents exposed sensitive information on American espionage methods, and the damning evidence of U.S. spying on both its allies and adversaries. The files contain classified information related to the Russia-Ukraine war, critical details about Ukraine’s war plans, and the U.S. intelligence-gathering methods against Russia. It also revealed the presence of 97 NATO special forces personnel in Ukraine.

The Biden administration is currently working to assess and contain the fallout from the leaked documents, which have caused significant concern among U.S. officials, members of Congress, and U.S. allies. The U.S. Department of Defense is in full damage-control mode, urgently trying to identify the contents of the leaked documents. A top Pentagon spokesman said the documents present a “very serious risk to national security”.