A man with access to classified documents who made them public is facing a hefty prison sentence.
The 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman was charged Friday with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information, according to the FBI. Jack Teixeira, who works in the military’s intelligence wing, was accused of posting a trove of secret and sensitive information to an online chat forum popular among video gamers. He was arrested Thursday, ending a fast-moving government investigation. President Joe Biden has been kept up to date on the case, which has rattled US officials and allies as they work to assess damage from the leak.
A couple of the leaked documents appeared to be from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, a spy agency that collects and analyzes satellite images and other sources of information. The two documents posted online by a channel on the encrypted Telegram app resembled other materials from the agency that were leaked in March by Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, who pleaded guilty to posting a larger trove of classified documents on the same platform.
Employees who are granted security clearances must be trained to handle information designated as top secret, secret or confidential. They are trusted stewards of the information they have access to and protecting it is a lifetime obligation, officials say. That is why Defense Department leaders are reminding personnel about the importance of properly handling classified data and urging employees to stay focused on their job, including preventing the accidental release of information that could compromise the country’s security or damage national relationships.