Jack Teixeira: Suspected Pentagon leaker hit with two federal charges
Jack Teixeira has appeared in court in Boston on charges of leaking classified information and military secrets.
New questions are being raised about how the 21-year-old, who is accused of being behind the humiliating security breach, was allowed to access sensitive documents.
Teixeira, handcuffed and wearing a khaki prison jumpsuit, was read by a federal court in Massachusetts shortly after 10 a.m. local time.
His father yelled at him during the brief appearance before the judges, “I love you, Jack!”
He replied, “I love you, Daddy.”
Teixeira only spoke twice after that, answering “yes” twice when asked if he understood his right to remain silent.
The National Guard member did not enter a plea, but judges ordered him to remain in custody until next week.
Teixeira’s next hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, April 19, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a statement.
The leak is the most embarrassing for the US since the WikiLeaks scandal in 2013, when National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden passed on confidential documents.
Jack Douglas Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the US Air National Guard who was arrested by the FBI for his alleged involvement in leaking classified documents online, poses for a selfie at an unknown location
A 21-year-old US Air Force National Guard employee has been arrested for leaking highly sensitive US defense and intelligence documents
According to the indictment form, Teixeira received the highest security clearance in 2021 as a member of the National Guard.
The document, filed by the US government, quotes FBI Special Agent Patrick Lueckenhoff as saying that Teixeira “would have signed a lifetime binding non-disclosure agreement.”
He adds that the suspect “should have recognized that the unauthorized disclosure of protected information may lead to criminal prosecution.”
Teixeira posted a slew of highly classified military documents touching on the war in Ukraine and other national security issues.
FBI investigators arrested him Thursday at his mother’s home in Dighton, Massachusetts, before putting the 21-year-old in the back of a police van.
Teixeira posted the trove of top secret files under his online username “Jack the Dripper” for months before the leak was discovered.
He worked as a junior cybersecurity specialist in the intelligence unit at Otis Air National Guard Base in western Cape Cod.
It is believed to have started on a site called Discord, a social media platform popular among people who play online games.
Teixeira allegedly posted about guns, games and top secret US government information.
This document appears to reflect the state of Ukraine’s air defenses in February and May, when they are expected to be severely depleted
He was identified as the leader of a chat room known as Thug Shaker Central on Discord, an invitation-only platform.
He then allegedly posted images of folded papers because he felt his writings were not being taken seriously, the Associated Press reported.
US Justice Department officials have opened an investigation into the 21-year-old, whose actions have embarrassed US allies around the world.
Washington’s longtime friends, from Britain to South Korea and Israel, called much of the information bogus.
It outlined possible arms deliveries to Ukraine, as well as details of Western-led training for the Ukrainian armed forces.
But in an interview with ABC News, one of the country’s top military officials dismissed the leak’s impact on Kiev’s battlefield plans.
“This will not be able to affect the actual results of the offensive operation,” Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, said.
The country’s best spy is considered one of the few Ukrainian officials who correctly predicted the timing of the full-scale Russian invasion of his neighbor.
The 21-year-old’s actions have been roundly criticized by lawmakers from all political parties.
But he received support from far-right Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who falsely referred to him as “Jake Teixeira” on Twitter.
In yet another rampaging social media diatribe, the congressman representing Georgia’s 14th district claimed he was being persecuted because of his skin color.
“Jake Teixeira is white, male, Christian, and anti-war,” Greene said. “That makes him an enemy of the Biden regime.”
The 48-year-old repeatedly repeats Kremlin talking points about Ukraine, including the completely fictional claim that the country is being overrun by Nazis.