Jack Teixeira, 21, appears in court over Pentagon leak. What charges is he facing?
BOSTON – Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira made his first appearance in federal court Friday to face charges he leaked classified documents about the war in Ukraine.
Teixeira answered questions from U.S. Magistrate Judge David Hennessy with a soft "yes, sir." Hennessy ordered him held at least until a hearing on Wednesday.
Teixeria, 21, who entered the courtroom wearing a tan jumpsuit with his hands cuffed in front of him, is charged with the alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information and removal of classified documents. The charges carry maximum sentences of 10 years and five years in prison, respectively.
The appearance came a day after Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the arrest of Teixeira in a brief news conference, saying "FBI agents took Teixeira into custody earlier this afternoon without incident.”
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Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, right, appears in U.S. District Court in Boston, Friday, April 14, 2023. He is accused in the leak of highly classified military documents as prosecutors unsealed charges and revealed how billing records and interviews with social media comrades helped pinpoint Teixeira. (Photo: Margaret Small, AP)
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What are the charges? Teixeira is charged with the alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information, Garland said. He will have an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.
Who is Jack Teixeira? Teixeira is an enlisted airman first class, a member of the 102nd Intelligence Wing based in Cape Cod. He is also the leader of an online chat group that has shared an interest in guns and racist memes.
Dig deeper: How Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old guard leaked documents from deep inside the Pentagon
How did President Biden react to the leaker’s arrest?
President Joe Biden, who is wrapping up a three-day trip to Ireland, praised the “rapid action” by law enforcement and said he’s trying to prevent such leaks from happening again.
“While we are still determining the validity of those documents, I have directed our military and intelligence community to take steps to further secure and limit distribution of sensitive information, and our national security team is closely coordinating with our partners and allies,” Biden said in a statement.
--Maureen Groppe
AG Garland: ‘Not just about taking home documents’
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Friday the Pentagon documents leak is “not just about taking home documents.”
“This is about the transmission— both the unlawful retention and the transmission of the documents,” he said during a Department of Justice press conference,. “…There are very serious penalties associated with that.”
Garland said individuals who sign agreements to receive classified documents acknowledge how important sharing classified information is to national security.
"We intend to send that message— how important it is to our national security,” he said.
- Rachel Looker
What are the charges?
Teixeira faces charges of unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information, which holds a maximum sentence of 10 years, and removal and retention of classified documents, which is a maximum of five years.
As of February, Teixeira was in a position that required top-secret security clearance. In order to be granted clearance, Teixeira would have had to sign a lifetime binding nondisclosure agreement where he would have had to acknowledge that the unauthorized disclosure of classified information could result in criminal charges, according to the criminal complaint. He was granted clearance in 2021.
“There is probable cause to believe that Teixeira improperly and unlawfully retained and transmitted national defense information classified at the TS/SCI level to persons not authorized to receive information,” according to FBI Special Agent Patrick Lueckenhoff.
– Sarah Elbeshbishi
How did FBI track down Teixeira?
Teixeira had access to the government documents that were posted on social media because of his top secret and secure compartmented information clearances working for the military, according to Lueckenhoff.
Teixeira accessed one of the documents in February, about one day before it was posted on the internet, Lueckenhoff swore in an affidavit. On April 6, Teixeira used his government computer to search for classified intelligence reporting for the word “leak,” which suggested he was looking for information about the intelligence community searching for him, Lueckenhoff said.
On April 12, the social media platform Discord provided the FBI with records about what was posted and identified the user as Jack Teixeira of North Dighton, Massachusetts.
– Bart Jansen
Why the U.S. can’t stop military and intelligence leaks
First, there was Army soldier Chelsea Manning and after that intelligence contractors Edward Snowden and Reality Winner. All of them were twentysomethings charged with leaking highly classified documents they had access to as part of their government work and disclosing some of America's most closely guarded secrets.
On Thursday, federal authorities arrested yet another suspected young leaker of top-secret U.S. intelligence – Teixeira, a low-ranking member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.
Why do these kinds of damaging intelligence leaks keep happening? And perhaps more importantly, what can the U.S. military and intelligence establishment do to prevent it from happening again?
Experts, including former U.S. intelligence officials, told USA TODAY that there are no easy fixes to the problem. That's especially the case because of the vastness of the military and intelligence bureaucracy, which has literally millions of people – many of them independent contractors – with top-secret security clearances.
– Josh Meyer
Pentagon document leak: Here are the biggest takeaways after U.S. military secrets leaked
Why the US can't stop military and intel members from leaking top-secret documents? Here's why
What time is Jack Teixeira's hearing?
Teixeira’s hearing is expected to take place at 10 a.m. EDT on Friday and will be presided over by Hennessy, the federal magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, according to U.S District Court Clerk Robert Farrell.
Hennessy was first appointed a U.S. magistrate judge in 2013 and served as chief magistrate judge of Massachusetts from 2017 to 2020, according to the court’s website.
From 2008 to 2013, Hennessy served as the chief of the Worcester bran in the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
– Sarah Elbeshbishi and Jeannette Hinkle
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Who is Jack Teixeira? Airman arrested in Pentagon document leak worked in cyber systems
Teixeira, who was arrested Thursday and charged in the Pentagon leak case, is an airman first class who joined the Air National Guard in September 2019, according to the Air Force.
He works for the Massachusetts Air National Guard at Otis Air National Guard Base. His job title is cyber transport systems journeyman.
He has been decorated with an Air Force Achievement Medal.
"FBI agents took Teixeira into custody earlier this afternoon without incident," Garland said Thursday in a brief news conference announcing the arrest.
– Bart Jansen
Who is Jack Teixeira?: What we know about the 21-year-old Air National Guardsman and suspected Pentagon leaker
Leaked Pentagon documents 'a deliberate criminal act'
Teixeira oversaw a private Discord channel called Thug Shaker Central, according to multiple reports. The private chat group was comprised of about 20 to 30 people, mostly young men and teens, the reports say.
Stringent guidelines are in place to protect classified information and are under review, Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said. Everybody with a security clearance signs a nondisclosure agreement.
The leak, Ryder said, “was a deliberate criminal act.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is conducting daily meetings to review the scope and impact of the leaks and mitigation measures, Ryder said.
More: Here's why the US can't stop military and intel members from leaking top-secret documents
National guard leak: What sensitive information was revealed?
The leaked documents appear to be highly sensitive reports tied to the war effort in Ukraine, including data on military activities like U.S. drone spy planes in the area and Ukrainian forces’ use of ammunition. They appear to show how the U.S. views Ukrainian forces’ training and state of readiness, plus the number of Ukrainian and Russian troops killed and equipment destroyed in the ongoing conflict, as well.
More than 100 U.S. documents were leaked in all. The files also contained sensitive, classified information about the war in Ukraine, Russian military activity, China and the Middle East.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Leaked Pentagon documents: What are the charges Jack Teixeira faces?
