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Pentagon Leaks: Justice Charges Jack Teixeira With ‘Unauthorized Transmission Of Secret Documents’

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Jack TeixeiraA 21-year-old National Guardsman suspected of being involved in one of the most serious leaks of documents in the last decade in the United States, appeared on Friday before the court, which accused him of “unauthorized transmission of secret documents”.

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Jack Teixeira, an Air Force National Guard employee, appeared for the first time in a Massachusetts federal court after being arrested Thursday.

The young man appeared in the morning before the magistrate judge of the Massachusetts District Court, David Hennessy, who read the charges against him.

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One illustration shows Jack Teixeira's image in the center.  Photo: Stefani Reynolds/AFP

One illustration shows Jack Teixeira’s image in the center. Photo: Stefani Reynolds/AFP

His arrest was broadcast live on US television networks, following a week-long investigation into one of the most damaging classified information leaks since 2013, when Edward Snowden exposed thousands of National Security Agency documents.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland said Teixeira was arrested “in connection with an investigation into the alleged unauthorized removal, storage and transmission of classified national defense information”.

The FBI arrests Jack Teixeira.  Photo: Reuters

The FBI arrests Jack Teixeira. Photo: Reuters

Footage from the operation in North Dighton, in the northeastern state of Massachusetts, showed the suspect, dressed in red shorts and a T-shirt, with his hands behind his head, slowly backing away towards the heavily armed camouflaged officers. they stopped him.

This was perhaps the fastest clearing of a classified information leak in memory. The New York Times reported the leak last week, and within days the leaker was known and arrested.

Who is Teixeira

The US National Guard said Teixeira enlisted in September 2019, He is a specialist in information technology and communication.and that he attained the rank of Airman First Class, the third lowest.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin praised the Justice Department and the FBI in a statement “for his prompt arrest” of the suspect.

Austin added that he has ordered a review of “intelligence, accountability and access control procedures within the (defense) department to inform our efforts to prevent this type of incident from happening again.”

Teixeira’s arrest came a day after the Washington Post reported that hundreds of pages of documents had been posted on the social network Discord. by a man who worked on a military base from the United States.

According to the New York Times, a “digital evidence trail” listed Teixeira as the leader of the private chat group on Discord, called Thug Shaker Central, where the documents appeared.

The leak revealed US concerns about the feasibility of an imminent counteroffensive by Kiev forces against Russian troops, as well as concerns about Ukraine’s air defenses, noting that Washington is spying on allies including Israel and South Korea .

President Joe Biden referred to the leaks during a visit to Ireland, saying he was “concerned”.

The prisoner, who called himself “OG”he has been posting documents regularly in the Thug Shaker Central chat group for months, according to news reports.

The group of about 24 members, including people from Russia and Ukraine, gathered for theirs “mutual love of weapons, military equipment and God” and formed an “invite-only club in 2020 on Discord,” said the Post, which like the Times cited unnamed members of Thug Shaker Central.

OG told group members he spent part of the day “inside a secure facility that banned cell phones and other electronic devices,” the Post reported.

First he wrote the contents of confidential documents to share with the group, but later started taking picturestelling other members not to share them, the newspaper reported.

OG had a “dark view of government” and “spoke of America, and the intelligence and law enforcement community in particular, as a sinister force seeking to suppress its citizens and keep them in the dark,” he said. said the Post, quoting one of the group members.

A Discord spokesperson told AFP that user safety is a priority, and content that violates their policies can result in people being banned, servers shut down and police being alerted.

AFP extension

Source: Clarin

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