The FBI arrested a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard on Thursday, five days after reports emerged that classified US military documents were leaked online.
Jack Teixeira, whose official title in the force was Cyber Transport Systems journeyman, faces charges under the Espionage Act for sharing the files in an online gaming chatroom.
Teixeira was the leader of the Discord chat group where the documents appeared. The sensitive documents included detailed intelligence assessments of Ukraine and Washington's spying activities on allies and foes. Though US President Joe Biden said there was 'nothing of great consequence' in the leaks, the incident had embarrassed the US.
Interestingly, the Pentagon was caught unaware despite the documents being circulated online for weeks.
Teixeira was arrested in Massachusetts and was charged with alleged unauthorised removal, retention and transmission of classified national defence information. He will appear before the court on Saturday, according to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
As per the Air Force, Teixeira was an enlisted airman at the Massachusetts Air National Guard, who joined the service in September 2019. His official job is Cyber Transport Systems journeyman and is entrusted with making sure the service’s "vast, global communications network" is operating correctly.
A video from the arrest shows the FBI taking into custody Teixeira, seen dressed in gym shorts, a T-shirt and trainers, from his home in Dighton, Massachusetts. He was seen walking backwards with his hands raised to armed FBI officers.
Brandon Van Grack, a former Justice Department national security prosecutor now with the law firm Morrison Foerster, told Reuters that Teixeira could face charges up to 10 years imprisonment, even if he did not intend to cause harm. "This is someone who is facing on the higher end of exposure for years in prison ... because the leaks were so damaging," Van Grack said.
Access to sensitive info
The episode has caused a huge embarrassment to the US while posing questions as to how an entry-level guardsman, whose job required just a high-school degree, a driver's license and up to 18 months of on-the-job training, managed to get access to such classified information.
On how such a young airman had access to classified defence documents, Defence Department spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said across the US military, personnel are entrusted "with a lot of responsibility at a very early age". "Think about a young combat platoon sergeant and the responsibility and trust that we put into those individuals to lead troops into combat," he said.
Following the embarrassing revelation, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a review of the Pentagon's "intelligence access, accountability and control procedures" to make sure a leak like that never happens again.
According to experts with CNN, Teixeira worked in the 102nd Intelligence Wing of the Air National Guard whose job included flying drones that conduct serious spy missions to support the Air Forces. "That means that units need access to a broad amount of intelligence collection and analysis because they may be operating in multiple theatres against multiple threats," the CNN report added.
