Federal grand jury indicts alleged Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira
Federal grand jury indicts alleged 21-year-old Discord leaker Jack Teixeira on six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified material after massive Pentagon breach
- Jack Texeira, 21, is accused of releasing confidential intelligence files online and discussing ‘murder’ online
- He appeared in federal court in Worcester, Massachusetts on Friday where Magistrate Judge David Hennessy granted prosecutors’ motion to detain him
- Texeira’s lawyers asked for him to be released on house arrest pending the trial but Hennessy said he was a flight risk and could further obstruct justice
Jack Teixera, the alleged Pentagon leaker and Air National Guardsman, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Massachusetts on Thursday and charged with six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information.
Each of the charges calls for up to 10 years in prison, if convicted.
Teixera, 21, held a TOP SECRET/SCI security clearance, the indictment said, and received training on how to properly handle classified information – but used his position to obtain and illegally disseminate such documents
The suspected Pentagon leaker was arrested two months ago and had been ordered to remain in jail as he awaits trial on charges he violated the Espionage Act.
Texeira is accused of releasing hundreds of thousands of secret dossiers about the Ukraine war on a gaming chat server in one of gravest intelligence breaches in US history.
‘The unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified information jeopardizes our nation’s security. Individuals granted access to classified materials have a fundamental duty to safeguard the information for the safety of the United States, our active service members, its citizens and its allies,’ acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy said in a statement. ‘We are committed to ensuring that those entrusted with sensitive national security information adhere to the law.’
The disgraced Air National Guardsman appeared in federal court in Worcester, Massachusetts last month where Magistrate Judge David Hennessy granted prosecutors’ motion to detain him.
Texeira’s lawyers asked for him to be released on house arrest pending the trial but Hennessy said he was a flight risk and could further obstruct justice.
The judge said the number of Americans he put at risk was as ‘long as a phone book’.
Jack Texeira, 21, the suspected Pentagon leaker, has been ordered to remain in jail as he awaits trial on charges he violated the Espionage Act
Texeira, who was arrested on April 13, is the primary suspect in the disclosure of U.S. documents related to the Ukraine war and numerous other topics
These are two of the leaked documents which have been shared by the New York Times
This document appears to show the state of Ukraine’s air defenses in February and in May, when it is anticipated they’ll be badly depleted
Teixeira allegedly posted secret memos in an internet chat room that touched upon the war in Ukraine, but also U.S. ties with key allies such as Israel.
The incident is an embarrassing leak that has caused U.S. government soul-searching about its failure to protect vital national security secrets.
He allegedly leaked classified documents to a group of gamers on the messaging app Discord, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors claimed Teixeira kept notes about top-secret details shared during meetings, which he later shared.
He was scolded in September and October for taking notes during meetings and was instructed not to conduct ‘any deep dives into classified intelligence information’, according to prosecutors.
They added that he was caught in February ‘viewing content that was not related to his duties’
The classified documents were allegedly shared to a 150-member Discord group which discussed guns and gaming.
Teixeira is said to have bragged about the level of access he had and told his friends he would share ‘a f*** ton of information’ on US intelligence in countries such as Syria, China, Iran, Palestine and Israel, among others.
Prosecutors said he wrote: ‘Idgaf (I don’t give a f***) what they say I can or can’t share … [a]ll of the s–t I’ve told you guys I’m not supposed to.’
The National Guardsman allegedly posted secret memos in an Internet chat room that touched upon the war in Ukraine, but also U.S. ties with key allies such as Israel
Jack Michael Teixeira arrives for the detention hearing for his son Teixeira on Friday
‘Who did he put at risk?’ said Hennessy. ‘You could make a list as long as a phone book.’
The leak is considered the most serious U.S. national security breach since more than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010.
The leaked classified documents held information on allies and adversaries, with details ranging from Ukraine’s air defenses to Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
President Joe Biden has ordered an investigation into why the alleged leaker had access to the sensitive information.
According to the charge sheet, he received top security clearance in 2021 as a member of the National Guard.
FBI investigators arrested him without incident in Dighton, Massachusetts earlier this month in a raid on his mother’s house.
Agents found that he kept his gun locker within reach of his bed and in it were handguns, bolt-action rifles, shotguns, and a gas mask.
Teixeira posted the treasure trove of top secret files under his online user name ‘Jack the Dripper’ for months before the leak was uncovered.
He worked as a junior cyber security specialist in the intelligence unit based at the Otis Air National Guard Base in western Cape Cod.
Photo evidence collected during the investigation into U.S. Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, who is accused of leaking classified documents online
The criminal complaint against Jack Teixeira filed April 14, 2023
It is believed to have started on popular social media platform Discord.
Teixeira posted about guns, games and top secret US government information but some of his fellow chatroom members reported his activities to investigators.
It alleged that the 21-year-old used his government computer to search classified intelligence reporting for the word ‘leak’ on April 6.
That was the day when the first stories broke about the huge security breach.
Prosecutors claim he searched the term to establish whether US intelligence had information on the identity of the person behind the leaks.
This document appears to show the state of Ukraine’s air defenses in February and in May, when it is anticipated they’ll be badly depleted
He was identified as the ringleader of a chatroom, known as Thug Shaker Central, on Discord.
He then allegedly posted images of folded-up papers because he felt his writings weren’t being taken seriously, the Associated Press reported.
Officials at the US Justice Department have opened a probe into the 21-year-old, whose actions embarrassed US allies around the world.
Long-standing friends of Washington from Britain to South Korea and Israel slammed much of the information as bogus.
It outlined possible arms deliveries to Ukraine, as well as details of Western-led training for the Ukrainian armed forces.
The 21-year-old’s actions have been roundly criticized by lawmakers from all political parties.
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