Leak suspect yearned to join US military but then regretted it
The member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, accused of leaking highly classified documents, had set his sights on joining the military from an early age. But more recently, he expressed disillusionment with his conscription.
Jack Teixeira, 21, was charged Friday in US District Court in Boston with unauthorized deletion and retention of classified and national defense information — an offense that has caused international uproar and explicit US assessments of the war in Ukraine and other closely guarded secrets has brought to light. .
A magistrate judge ordered Teixeira to be held until a hearing next week.
Two of his former classmates told The Boston Globe that Teixeira revered the military and expressed an early interest in joining. He was particularly focused on the history of war and weapons.
“From a young age, I remember he would have a book on, I believe, US military aircraft, armaments, like a really big textbook,” John Powell told the Globe.
Though Powell recalled Teixeira being bullied in high school, he told the newspaper that the young man was an optimist and “sweetheart” with a particularly close relationship with his stepfather, an Air Force veteran.
High school classmate Kailani Reis told the Teixeira newspaper that he was “super quiet” and exuded “lonely vibes,” while another classmate, Sarah Arnold, told the Associated Press news agency she remembered him as quiet and to herself.
Disagreement
According to military records, Teixeira enlisted in the Air National Guard in September 2019. He graduated from Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School the following year, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the school to close and go virtual.
It was during the pandemic that Teixeira developed a close relationship with other members of a chat room on the social media platform Discord, where members of the group said the leaks surfaced. The chat app is used by video gamers and others to connect online.
A member of the Discord chat group spoke to AP about the conversations but declined to name, citing concerns for his personal safety. Dubbed “Thug Shaker Central,” the group attracted people who talked about their favorite types of guns and shared memes and jokes, some of them racist and anti-Semitic, the person said.
The group also included an ongoing discussion of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. For months, a member nicknamed “the OG” posted piles of classified material, said the Discord member who confirmed OG was Teixeira.
Teixeira liked to talk about guns, was an observant Christian and often prayed with group members, the fellow member said. In recent months, Teixeira had become disillusioned with the US military and began expressing “regret” [about] join in,” said the person. “He even said he’d kick me if I even thought about joining.”
Teixeira also worried that the federal government had become too powerful, according to the Discord user.
The chat group member said he wasn’t sure why Teixeira applied, but thought he needed money to study. He added that OG was adept at making memes.
“He was good at his craft. He was good with, you know, Photoshop,” the group member said, adding that Teixeira was “never a very, super serious guy, most of the time it was just laughs and giggles.”
Teixeira was recently promoted to Airman 1st Class and assigned to the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base, where his job was listed as a cybertransport systems journeyman.
Despite his relatively low rank, the technology position would have given Teixeira the responsibility of maintaining computer networks with access to classified information. Teixeira began active duty in October 2021.
Members of the Discord group described Teixeira as someone who wants to show off rather than being motivated by a desire to inform the public about US military operations or influence US policy.
The Discord member said he did not believe Teixeira was leaking documents to undermine the US government or for an ideological reason.
“If I had to give a gauge for it, it would be more or less just a couple of geeks wanting to look at some stuff and compare and contrast and make a joke about it,” he said.
“In the end, I mean we’re just trying to have a good time.”
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said there were “very severe penalties” attached to the crimes Teixeira allegedly committed.
“People who sign agreements to receive classified documents recognize the importance to national security of not disclosing those documents, and we intend to send that message [about] how important it is to our national security,” said Garland.