NewsRescue
The Justice Department stated on Thursday that Jack Teixeira, a US Air National Guardsman accused of uploading a trove of secret material online, has been indicted on six criminal offenses.
A federal grand jury decided to indict the 21-year-old soldier for willfully retaining national security secrets after he reportedly exchanged top-secret papers on the Discord chat network beginning last year.
“Jack Teixeira was entrusted by the United States government with access to classified national defense information – including information that could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to national security if shared,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement, adding that the leak “endangered our national security.”
Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was granted top-secret security clearance in 2021 and is accused of improperly accessing a wide range of sensitive data, including dozens of pages relating to US military support to Ukraine.
The suspect allegedly leaked documents revealing that US and NATO special forces were active in Ukraine, that estimated Ukrainian casualties were higher than publicly acknowledged by US officials, that Kiev’s forces were running low on ammunition, and that the US spied on its allies throughout the conflict. Many of the files have been regarded by American officials as phony or doctored.
Following Teixeira’s arrest by the FBI in April, the Pentagon hurried to determine the extent of the leak, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin remarking that senior officials were not aware of the incident until weeks later. He stated that he was just made aware of the situation on April 6, after media outlets began reporting on the contents of the documents.
Later, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh stated that the military did not know the entire amount of documents leaked online, and news outlets have continued to publish on new files months later.
Teixeira remains in federal detention awaiting his court appearance after prosecutors denied his plea for parole because he posed a flight risk. According to the DOJ, each of his six offenses carries a maximum punishment of ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
