US airman suspected of leaking secret documents hit with federal charges

A 21-year-old member of the
US Air National Guard accused of leaking top secret military
intelligence records online has been charged with
unlawfully copying and transmitting classified material.

Jack Douglas Teixeira of North Dighton, Massachusetts, who
was arrested by heavily armed FBI agents at his home on
Thursday, made his initial appearance in a crowded federal court
wearing a brown khaki jumpsuit on Friday.

At the hearing, Boston’s top federal national security
prosecutor, Nadine Pellegrini, requested that Teixeira be
detained pending trial, and a detention hearing was set for
Wednesday.

During the brief proceeding, Teixeira said little, answering
“yes” when asked whether he understood his right to remain
silent.

The judge said Teixeira’s financial affidavit showed he
qualified to be represented by a federal public defender, and he
appointed one.

After the hearing, three of Teixeira’s family members left
the courthouse, with a group of reporters trailing them for
several blocks. They entered a car without making any comments.

The leaked documents at the heart of the investigation were posted online on a social media website weeks earlier, but news of their existence did not come to light until it was reported by the New York Times last week.

It is believed to be the most serious US security breach
since more than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables
appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010. The Pentagon has
called the leak a “deliberate, criminal act.”

US officials are still assessing the damage done by the
leaks, which included records showing purported details of
Ukrainian military vulnerabilities and embarrassed Washington by
revealing its spying on allies.

Senate
Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has requested a briefing for all
100 senators next week while Republican House of Representatives
Speaker Kevin McCarthy vowed to investigate.

Democratic President Joe Biden said he was taking steps to
tighten security. “While we are still determining the validity
of those documents, I have directed our military and
intelligence community to take steps to further secure and limit
distribution of sensitive information,” he said in a statement.

More charges expected

A criminal complaint made public on Friday charges Teixeira
with one count of violating the Espionage Act related to the
unlawful copying and transmitting of sensitive defence material,
and a second charge related to the unlawful removal of defence
material to an unauthorised location.

A conviction on the Espionage Act charge carries up to 10
years in prison.

The charges are connected to just one leaked document so
far, a classified record that described the status of the
Russia-Ukraine conflict and included details about troop
movements on a particular date.

Experts expect more charges as investigators examine each
leaked document, confirm its classification status and decide
which can be shown to a jury without damaging national security.

Teixeira could also face more counts depending on the number of
times he separately uploaded and transmitted each document.

“They are going to pick the ones [documents], I would
imagine, that foreign governments have already seen,” said
Stephanie Siegmann, the former national security chief for the
US Attorney’s office in Boston and now a partner with the
Hinckley Allen law firm.

In a sworn statement, an FBI agent said Teixeira had held a
top secret security clearance since 2021 and also had sensitive
compartmented access to other highly classified programs.

Since May 2022, the FBI said, Teixeira has been serving as
an E-3/airman first class in the Air National Guard and has been
stationed at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts.

Siegmann said one lingering question is why a 21-year-old
National Guardsman held such a top-level security clearance.

“That’s an issue that Department of Defense needs to now
deal with,” she said. “Why would he be entitled to these
documents about the Russia-Ukrainian conflict?”

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