Accused Pentagon Leaker Jack Teixeira Is Facing More Federal Charges
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Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman already accused of leaking classified Pentagon documents on social media, has been indicted on more federal charges.
The indictment by a Boston grand jury, announced Thursday by the Justice Department, charges Teixeira with six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information related to national defense. If Teixeira is convicted, each charge carries up to 10 years in prison, as well as up to three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
The FBI arrested Teixeira in North Dighton, Massachusetts, in April in connection with a series of posts containing information from and photos of intelligence documents—some marked top secret—that were shared to the social media platform Discord starting in December. He was initially charged with singular counts of unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal of classified information. Teixeira has pleaded not guilty to those two charges, which carry a maximum of 15 years in prison.
The documents contained information about U.S. espionage and military assessments. Although President Joe Biden downplayed the leaks, saying there is “nothing contemporaneous that I’m aware of that is of great consequence,” they reportedly unsettled key allies as the Pentagon conducted a damage assessment. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement Thursday that Teixeira is alleged to have “endangered national security.”
Here’s what you need to know about Teixeira, the information purportedly contained in the documents, and its significance.
Who Is Jack Teixeira?
Teixeira grew up in the suburbs around Providence, Rhode Island, and graduated from Dighton-Rehoboth High School in Massachusetts in 2020.
Several of Teixeira’s former classmates told CNN he had a fascination with guns, the military, and war. He wore camouflage to school and carried a “dictionary-sized” book on guns, often making other students uneasy. Still, he didn’t behave in a way that needed to be reported, one explained.
A friend of Teixeira described him as a devout Catholic and Libertarian with concerns about America’s future. Members of the Discord group—called “Thug Shaker Central” and led by Teixeira—shared a video with The Washington Post showing him shouting racist and anti-Semitic slurs before firing a rifle.
Military records obtained by The Washington Post show that Teixeira enlisted in the National Guard on September 26, 2019. He was stationed at Otis Air National Guard Base located in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and worked as a low-ranking IT official.
According to an affidavit unsealed during his initial court appearance, Teixeira had a top secret security clearance dating back to 2021. A defense official told CNN that his role as a Cyber Transport Systems journeyman required it, as he would have been working on a network that contained highly classified information.
What Was in the Documents?
The Discord posts contained information about U.S. efforts to spy on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. They also included tactical updates on military forces, including in Ukraine, and insights into foreign governments’ efforts to interfere with elections, according to The Washington Post.
The documents contain reports about the Ukrainian military and the challenges it faces after more than a year of fighting. One from late February surmised that Ukraine’s medium range air defense could have been “completely reduced” by last month, while another top secret document from early February assessed the country’s planned counteroffensive is likely to result in only small gains.
The leaks suggested that U.S. intelligence has infiltrated the Russian military to the point where it had warned Ukraine of oncoming attacks. Other assessments detailed conditions that could draw China into the conflict and the results of a hypersonic weapon test conducted by Beijing on February 25.
Other activities named in the documents include:
U.S. surveillance of Iran’s secret weapons activity
Serbia’s provision of lethal aid to Ukraine, which its defense minister vehemently denied
South Korea’s response to a U.S. request to provide ammunition to Ukraine
An alleged revolt planned by Israel’s spy service against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed judicial overhaul
Officials from Ukraine and South Korea downplayed the leaks, with the latter even suggesting much of their information is “altered.” But according to CNN, U.S. allies conducted damage assessments to see if any of their own sources and methods were compromised.
What’s Next for Teixeira?
It isn't clear when Teixeira will have a court date for the new charges. He has remained in jail since his arrest.
Although his fate ultimately won’t be known for a while, the case is bound to draw comparisons to that of notable whistleblowers like Daniel Ellsberg and Chelsea Manning.
Ellsberg, who died Friday at age 92, famously provided the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times and 16 other newspapers in 1971. The documents suggested the U.S. government had misled the public regarding the country’s involvement in the Vietnam War. He was charged with theft conspiracy and violations of the Espionage Act, but his case was called a mistrial. Later in life, he wrote books and many articles on foreign policy, nuclear disarmament, and economics.
Manning, 35, served as a U.S. Army intelligence analyst in Iraq and delivered hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks in February 2010. Three years later, she was convicted on 20 counts, including espionage, theft, and computer fraud, and received a 35-year prison sentence. President Barack Obama commuted her sentence, and she was freed on May 17, 2017.
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