US airman charged with ‘unauthorised transmission’ of classified documents

WASHINGTON – The US on Friday charged a National Guard airman with unauthorised transmission and retention of classified material in connection with a massive leak that exposed a variety of intelligence secrets, including maps, intelligence updates and an assessment of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Guardsman Jack Teixeira, who works for the United States Air Force National Guard, was taken into custody by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Thursday afternoon without incident.

He appeared in a federal court in Boston wearing a brown khaki jumpsuit.

He was arrested for allegedly accessing and disseminating classified national defence information. 

At the hearing, Boston’s top federal national security prosecutor Nadine Pellegrini requested that Teixeira be detained pending trial, and a detention hearing was set for next Wednesday.

Teixeira, 21, spoke just twice during the brief proceeding, answering “yes” when asked if he understood his right to remain silent.

He also confirmed that he had filled out a financial affidavit, which the judge said shows he will qualify to be represented by a federal public defender. It was not clear whether Teixeira had yet secured legal representation.

His parents were sitting in the front row. They exchanged a brief greeting as he was handcuffed and led away.

Anyone convicted of wilfully transmitting national defence information can face up to 10 years in prison. Teixeira could potentially face a longer sentence depending on what charges are brought against him.

In the WikiLeaks case, the leaker – US Army Private First Class Chelsea Manning – was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Former Democratic president Barack Obama later commuted her sentence.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that the guardsman was the leader of a gaming chat group where the classified documents first appeared.

The leak of dozens of pages of documents has been described as

one of the most damaging and embarrassing intelligence disclosures in a decade.

The documents were shared among

a small group on the Discord text and video chat app

before being picked up and circulated more broadly on the Telegram messaging service, where international news organisations first became aware of them.

Earlier on Thursday, President Joe Biden said the US was close to concluding the investigation into the leak and downplayed its significance.

“There’s a full-blown investigation going on right now, as you know, with the intelligence community and the Justice Department,” Mr Biden told reporters in Dublin.

When asked who leaked the documents, Mr Biden said investigators were “getting close, but I don’t have an answer”.

“I’m not concerned about the leak,” added the President.

“I’m concerned that it happened,” he said. “But there’s nothing contemporaneous” in the documents, he said. 

The documents revealed US assessments on the Russian invasion in Ukraine, including that

Ukraine was dangerously close to running out of the missiles and interceptors

needed to defend itself against the attacks. It also highlighted US intelligence gathering on allies including Egypt, South Korea and Israel.

The picture that has so far emerged of the leaker is of a military buff and gun enthusiast who started sharing the documents with online friends and acquaintances – some of them just teenagers – in an apparent bid to stave off isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a The Washington Post profile published earlier on Thursday.

The Pentagon and Justice Department launched investigations into the leak after the documents were discovered online and Teixeira was considered by intelligence and law enforcement officials to be a person of interest. 

Investigators have not ruled out the possibility that a foreign adversary, like the Russian government, may have been involved in obtaining some of the classified documents, and potentially manipulating some of their contents.

Teixeira was mentioned on the Facebook page of the Massachusetts Air National Guard’s 102nd Intelligence Wing. One post from July 2022 congratulated him after he was promoted to Airman First Class: “Way to go!!!”

As part of the investigation, officials will seek to identify possible motives that Teixeira might have had if he is determined to be the leaker.

Investigators will examine his comments in chats and whether there is any indication he sought to help another country.

The fact that there were classified markings on the documents makes it likely that the leaker knew he was committing some kind of harm, one official said.

The Justice Department’s investigation is being handled by its national security division, which deals with cases involving espionage, mishandling of classified information and nefarious actions by foreign governments.

However, if it is determined that the leak did not involve those issues, the case could be handled as a more routine criminal matter. BLOOMBERG, REUTERS