BOSTON — The Massachusetts Air National Guard member accused of leaking hundreds of classified documents online will remain jailed ahead of a court hearing scheduled next week, authorities said.
The FBI took airman first class Jack Teixeira, 21, into custody without incident on Thursday at his home in Dighton. He unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material.
Biden says officials still determining validity of classified records shared online
Update 1 p.m. EDT April 14: In a statement released by the White House, President Joe Biden praised authorities for their work investigating the classified records shared online recently and said authorities are still determining their validity.
In the meantime, Biden said, “I have directed our military and intelligence community to take steps to further secure and limit distribution of sensitive information, and our national security team is closely coordinating with our partners and allies.”
In court records, officials said Teixeira gained access to confidential records as part of his job. He got top secret clearance in 2021.
Investigators believe Teixeira tried to find classified reporting about leak investigation
Update 11:10 a.m. EDT April 14: In court records, authorities said they had reason to believe that Teixeira searched for classified reporting related to the U.S. intelligence community’s investigation into the identity of the person who leaked classified records online.
Teixeira also used his government computer to search classified networks for the word “leak” on the same day that the first reporting surfaced about the disclosure.
Teixeira had a top secret security clearance
Update 11 a.m. EDT April 14: Teixeira was granted a top secret security clearance in 2021 as part of his work for the U.S. Air National Guard, officials said in court records unsealed Friday.
Since 2021, he also had “sensitive compartmented access (SCI) to other highly classified programs,” according to court records.
To get top secret clearance, Teixeira would have had to sign a non-disclosure agreement that would have warned him of possible criminal charges if he shared any protected information.
Teixeira enlisted in the U.S. Air National Guard in September 2019 as an E-1 rank, Since May 2022, he has been serving as an E-3/airman first class at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts. As of February, he has been a cyber defense operations journeyman.
Court records detail trail authorities followed to Teixeira
Update 10:50 a.m. EDT April 14: Federal court records show Teixeira is facing charges of unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material. Earlier, Massachusetts. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the 21-year-old would face charges in an “investigation into alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information.”
In an affidavit filed in court, an investigator said Teixeira is believed to have begun sharing top secret and sensitive compartmented information — which is further restricted — on social media in December. He began sharing the information in typed-out paragraphs but soon began sharing images of documents that appeared to have classification markings on them, officials said.
Previous reporting indicated Teixeira shared the information to a group on the messaging platform Discord.
Authorities were able to get the subscriber information for the user who posted the records and found the name on his billing record to be “Jack Teixeira.” His billing address was also matched with the address on his employment paperwork with the U.S. Air National Guard, officials said.
Leak suspect to be held in jail
Update 10:30 a.m. EDT April 14: Teixeira will be detained until Wednesday, when he’s scheduled to be in court for a detention hearing, officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said.
#BREAKING Jack Teixeira detained pending detention hearing set for Wednesday, April 19. Time TBD.
— U.S. Attorney Massachusetts (@DMAnews1) April 14, 2023
Teixeira formally charged
Update 10:26 a.m. EDT April 14: Teixeira has officially been charged with unauthorized detention and transmission of national defense information, CNN reported. He is also charged with the removal of classified information and defense materials.
— Natalie Dreier, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
Original report: Hundreds of classified documents related to the ongoing war in Ukraine, surveillance of U.S. allies and other highly sensitive topics were posted over several months to a group on the messaging platform Discord, according to The Washington Post. The documents later surfaced on social media, prompting a scramble by officials to identify the source, The New York Times reported.
Reporters and authorities followed an online trail to identify Teixeira, according to The Associated Press and the Times. He ran the online chat group Thug Shaker Central, where the documents first appeared, according to the Times. Social media posts from the Massachusetts Air National Guard’s 102nd Intelligence Wing show he is an airman first class who was assigned to an intelligence unit at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts.
A member of Thug Shaker Central earlier told the Post that the group’s leader, who went by the name “O.G.,” last year began sharing typed-out transcriptions of what he said were classified intelligence records that he had brought home from his job on a military base. Later, he shared hundreds of photos of classified documents, the Post reported. The records were so sensitive that only people who had undergone months of background checks would have been authorized to see them, according to the newspaper.
On Thursday, Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said officials are reviewing the safeguards they have in place to protect classified documents.
“We have rules in place,” he said. “Each of us signs a non-disclosure agreement — anybody that has a security clearance.”
He called the disclosure of sensitive information “a deliberate criminal act” and added that authorities are “continuing to assess the scope and the impact” of the leak.
Teixeira could also face military charges in connection to the disclosure.
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