A member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard has been arrested for the unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information about the war in Ukraine and US spying efforts.
Members of law enforcement assemble on a road ( Photo: WBUR )
Jack Teixeira, 21, posted the top-secret documents to a social media and messaging platform called Discord
According to The New York Times and The Washington Post. Reports indicate that Teixeira posted the documents to a group of young men and teenagers who came together over their shared love of weaponry, video games, and racist online memes.
Military security experts and former US intelligence officials have identified similarities between Teixeira and other low-level operators and analysts who have been charged with stealing and leaking similarly classified documents. The vastness of the military and intelligence bureaucracy, which has millions of people – many of them independent contractors – with top-secret security clearances, makes it difficult to prevent unauthorized leaks of classified documents.
This is because government agencies are required to share information with whomever they can in the post-9/11 era
Making it impossible to catch all wrongdoers. Despite authorities’ promises to crack down on leaks, this problem remains unresolved.
The case involving Teixeira is ongoing, and Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder declined to comment on the case’s details.
