A US Air National Guardsman accused of leaking top-secret military intelligence records online was indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston, as per the US Justice Department’s statement on Thursday. Twenty one-year-old Jack Douglas Teixeira of North Dighton, Massachusetts, was indicted on six counts of wilful retention and transmission of classified information relating to national defense, the statement informed. He is accused of committing one of the most serious US security leaks since over 700,000 documents, videos, and diplomatic cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010.
Teixeira was arrested in April for allegedly posting highly classified material on the messaging app Discord, causing concerns about how a low-level airman was able to have such broad access to military secrets. Two commanders in his unit were later suspended, news agency Reuters reported.
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Each charge of unauthorised retention and transmission of national defense information provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000, the department mentioned in its official statement.
US Federal law mandates that the government secure an indictment within 30 days of a person’s arrest, and Thursday was the end of the 30-day deadline.
“As laid out in the indictment, Jack Teixeira was entrusted by the United States government with access to classified national defense information — including information that reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to national security if shared,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, as quoted by the Justice Department.
“Teixeira is charged with sharing information with users on a social media platform he knew were not entitled to receive it. In doing so, he is alleged to have violated US law and endangered our national security,” he added.
According to Reuters, the leaked documents included highly classified information on allies and adversaries, with details from Ukraine’s air defenses during the Russian invasion to Israel’s Mossad spy agency. US President Joe Biden has ordered a probe into why the alleged leaker had access to the sensitive information.
Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard’s 102nd Intelligence Wing, had earlier waived his right to a preliminary hearing.
He had been charged in a criminal complaint with one count of violating the Espionage Act for unlawful copying and transmitting sensitive defense material, and a second count related to unlawful removal of defense material to an unauthorised location.
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