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Hearing delayed for Air National Guardsman charged in Pentagon classified documents leak

Jack Teixeira, 21, charged with unauthorized removal of classified national defense information

Hearing delayed for Air National Guardsman charged in Pentagon classified documents leak

Jack Teixeira, 21, charged with unauthorized removal of classified national defense information

OUR MARY SALADNA IS LIVE IN NORTH DIGHTON WITH WHAT WE’RE LEARNING ABOUT THIS GUARDSMAN, MARY: JESSICA AND ED, WE KNOW HIS NAME IS JACK TEIXEIRA, HE IS 21-YEARS-OLD, HE ALLEGEDLY LEADS AN ONLINE CHAT GROUP WHERE THESE CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS WERE POSTED. THE FBI CAME TO HIS HOUSE HERE ON MAPLE STREET A COUPLE OF HOURS AGO, YOU CAN SEE FEDERAL AGENTS TAKING TEIXEIRA INTO CUSTODY. HE IS A MEMBER OF THE INTELLIGENCE WING OF THE MASSACHUSETTS AIR NATIONAL GUARD, WHICH MEANS HE COULD HAVE HAD ACCESS TO SUCH DOCUMENTS. FEDERAL AUTHORITIES HAVE NOW CONFIRMED THAT HE’S BEING ARRESTED ON PROBABLE CAUSE IN CONNECTION WITH THE LEAK, WILL BE CHARGED WITH THE UNAUTHORIZED REMOVAL OF CLASSIFIED NATIONAL DEFENSE INFORMATION. >> WE HAVE RULES IN PLACE, EACH IF US SIGNS A NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT ANYBODY THAT HAS A SECURITY CLEARANCE AND SO ALL INDICATIONS ARE AGAIN THIS WAS A CRIMINAL ACT, A WILLFUL VIOLATION OF TOSE. MARY: THE WHITE HOUSE AND THE FEDS HAVE BEEN INTENSELY TRYING TO TRACE WHO LEAKED THOSE CLASSIFIED MILITARY DOCUMENTS, MANY OF THESE DOCUMENTS DISCUSSED THE WAR IN UKRAINE. TEIXEIRA IS SET TO APPEAR IN FEDERAL COURT IN BOSTON TOMORROW
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Updated: 9:53 AM EDT Apr 19, 2023
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Hearing delayed for Air National Guardsman charged in Pentagon classified documents leak

Jack Teixeira, 21, charged with unauthorized removal of classified national defense information

WCVB logo
Updated: 9:53 AM EDT Apr 19, 2023
Editorial Standards
A detention hearing for a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard arrested in connection with the leak of highly classified military documents about the Ukraine has been delayed.Jack Teixeira, 21, of North Dighton, was charged last week with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material.Teixeira was scheduled to return to court Wednesday, but the hearing was delayed for "approximately two weeks" after the defense required more time to address the issues presented by the government’s request for detention.Justice Department prosecutors said Teixeira was charged under an Espionage Act provision that makes it a crime to remove, retain or transmit national defense information.Investigators said Teixeira, who specializes in intelligence in his role as a cyber defense operations journeyman at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts, was granted a Top Secret security clearance in 2021 and maintained sensitive compartmented access to other highly classified programs.Investigators believe Teixeira was the leader of an online private chat group on Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games. Investigators outlined in an affidavit that Teixeira took classified documents to his home, photographed them and shared them on the online forum, which then were posted publicly on social media.Billing records the FBI obtained from Discord, which has said it was cooperating with the bureau, helped lead investigators to Teixeira, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed Friday.According to the document, the FBI interviewed someone familiar with Teixeira’s online posts. That person, who is not identified in the affidavit, told the FBI that a username linked to Teixeira began posting what appeared to be classified information roughly in December.Investigators said on April 6, Teixeira used his government computer to search classified intelligence reporting for the word “leak,” likely to see what the government knew about the identity of the person who transmitted the classified information.The Air Force is investigating how a lone airman could access and distribute possibly hundreds of highly classified documents, and in the meantime has taken away the intelligence mission from the Massachusetts base where the leaks took place, Air Force leaders said Tuesday.Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told Congress he has directed the Air Force inspector general to go look at the Air National Guard 102nd Intelligence Wing based in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira served and look at “anything associated with this leak that could have gone wrong."Pending further review, “The 102nd Intelligence Wing is not currently performing its assigned intelligence mission. The mission has been temporarily reassigned to other organizations within the Air Force," the service said in a statement to The Associated Press.Video Below: Aerial view of Teixeira arrested at homeSister station WCVB's helicopter was overhead when heavily armed tactical agents arrested Teixeira at his home following a weeklong criminal investigation into the disclosure of highly sensitive government records, an alarming breach that exposed to the world unvarnished secret assessments on the war in Ukraine, the capabilities and geopolitical interests of other nations and other top national security issues.Teixeira's service record indicates he joined the Air National Guard on Sept. 26, 2019, and his rank is Airman 1st Class, E-3. His duty title was cyber transport systems journeyman, and he was assigned to Otis Air National Guard Base.

A detention hearing for a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard arrested in connection with the leak of highly classified military documents about the Ukraine has been delayed.

Jack Teixeira, 21, of North Dighton, was charged last week with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material.

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Teixeira was scheduled to return to court Wednesday, but the hearing was delayed for "approximately two weeks" after the defense required more time to address the issues presented by the government’s request for detention.

Justice Department prosecutors said Teixeira was charged under an Espionage Act provision that makes it a crime to remove, retain or transmit national defense information.

Investigators said Teixeira, who specializes in intelligence in his role as a cyber defense operations journeyman at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts, was granted a Top Secret security clearance in 2021 and maintained sensitive compartmented access to other highly classified programs.

Investigators believe Teixeira was the leader of an online private chat group on Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games. Investigators outlined in an affidavit that Teixeira took classified documents to his home, photographed them and shared them on the online forum, which then were posted publicly on social media.

Billing records the FBI obtained from Discord, which has said it was cooperating with the bureau, helped lead investigators to Teixeira, according to an FBI affidavit unsealed Friday.

According to the document, the FBI interviewed someone familiar with Teixeira’s online posts. That person, who is not identified in the affidavit, told the FBI that a username linked to Teixeira began posting what appeared to be classified information roughly in December.

Investigators said on April 6, Teixeira used his government computer to search classified intelligence reporting for the word “leak,” likely to see what the government knew about the identity of the person who transmitted the classified information.

The Air Force is investigating how a lone airman could access and distribute possibly hundreds of highly classified documents, and in the meantime has taken away the intelligence mission from the Massachusetts base where the leaks took place, Air Force leaders said Tuesday.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told Congress he has directed the Air Force inspector general to go look at the Air National Guard 102nd Intelligence Wing based in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira served and look at “anything associated with this leak that could have gone wrong."

Pending further review, “The 102nd Intelligence Wing is not currently performing its assigned intelligence mission. The mission has been temporarily reassigned to other organizations within the Air Force," the service said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Video Below: Aerial view of Teixeira arrested at home

Sister station WCVB's helicopter was overhead when heavily armed tactical agents arrested Teixeira at his home following a weeklong criminal investigation into the disclosure of highly sensitive government records, an alarming breach that exposed to the world unvarnished secret assessments on the war in Ukraine, the capabilities and geopolitical interests of other nations and other top national security issues.

Teixeira's service record indicates he joined the Air National Guard on Sept. 26, 2019, and his rank is Airman 1st Class, E-3. His duty title was cyber transport systems journeyman, and he was assigned to Otis Air National Guard Base.

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