The US is charging the leaker with transferring classified information

Jack TeixeiraThe 21-year-old, a member of the Massachusetts State National Guard, was charged by the prosecution in a Boston court this Friday with misappropriating classified information and publishing it on the Internet.

The fees of which Teixeira is accused are those of retention and transfer of information affecting national defenseyeardeliberate withholding of classified documents. If found guilty, the defendants would face up to 10 years in prison for each count of the indictment. The sentence could ultimately be more severe depending on the aggravating circumstances that apply.

During the hearing, the federal judge in charge of the case ordered that Teixeira must remain in custody until his next hearing, which will be held next week.

Of Portuguese origin

Of Portuguese descent, Teixeira enlisted in the Airborne Division of the Massachusetts Air National Guard in October 2021, according to his official records. From May of last year until his arrest this Thursday, he was assigned to Otis Air Force Base in Massachusetts, where he served as “cyber transport systems expert”. Precisely because of his position, Teixeira would have access to confidential documents.

According to a report by the United States’ National Counterintelligence and Security Center, in 2020 nearly one million employees and external associates had access to information classified as strictly guarded secret, the highest level of confidentiality. Often among the functions of lower-ranking members is gathering information for higher-ranking individuals, which would — in part — explain the leniency in granting access.

“We give our members a lot of responsibility from an early age,” Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder admitted to reporters Thursday. In Teixeira’s case, the bet went wrong. young man he ended up giving away the information to brag to his peers on the Discord server. According to Teixeira’s affidavit, he initially transcribed the data during working hours. However, at the beginning of January this year, he reportedly started taking the originals home for fear that someone would see him playing them.

“It’s important to understand that we have strict guidelines,” Ryder explained. In this case, the general said, “it is a premeditated criminal act, a violation of those guidelines.” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a statement saying he had already instructed US intelligence chiefs about the need to review “procedures for access, accountability and intelligence control” to prevent similar incidents in the future. .

At the hearing this Friday, the prosecution presented evidence that would indicate this Teixeira used his approach even after the media reported the leak. On April 6, Mladić would use “his computer, owned by the Government, to search for confidential information about the word leak”.

By then it was already too late. According to the charging documents, four days later, on April 10, one of the members of the Discord server identified Teixeira as the person responsible for the leak in the FBI interrogation.