New York, 4 Apr (ZXS) -- US Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira was charged with two criminal offenses when he appeared in the Federal District Court in Boston on 14 April on suspicion of leaking confidential Pentagon documents.
CNN reported that on the same day, 21-year-old Teixeira walked into the courtroom wearing tan pants and handcuffs in the detention center. It was his first appearance since his arrest the day before. Under the Espionage Act, he was charged in court with unauthorized retention and transmission of defense information. In addition, he was charged with unauthorized deletion of classified information and defense material. Teixeira did not plead guilty in court to both criminal charges. The judge is scheduled to hear him again next Wednesday.
According to court documents, after Teixeira gained access to classified documents in 2021, she used government computers to access sensitive quarantined information and entered the keyword "leak" to search for classified information. From 2022, he began to post information about the content online, and in 2023 he began to publish photos of intelligence documents.
The Associated Press said Teixeira, who works for the intelligence division of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, first posted intelligence documents in an online game chat group on the social media platform Discord before they appeared on various other websites. FBI personnel learned the details after conducting one-on-one interviews with Discord users familiar with Teixeira.
Earlier, multiple media reported that a batch of about 100 pages of US military intelligence documents was leaked and circulated on multiple social media platforms. The relevant documents involve a variety of intelligence such as the situation in Ukraine, and contain content that high-level officials of the South Korean and Israeli governments are suspected of being monitored by US intelligence services.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a press conference in Washington, D.C., on the 14th that Teixeira "did not just take documents home", but transmitted classified documents, which would bring "very serious penalties." Asked if the case would go beyond federal charges and go to court-martial, Garland declined to comment.
On the same day, US President Biden asked federal agencies in a statement to strengthen the security of classified documents. "While we are still establishing the authenticity of these documents, I have directed the military and intelligence communities to take steps to further protect and limit the spread of sensitive information." (End)