A 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard suspected of leaking classified military intelligence documents to a classified military intelligence documents network will face a federal judge in Boston for the first time on Friday.
Jack Douglas Teixeira of North Dayton, Massachusetts, was arrested by FBI agents at his home on Thursday without resisting arrest. The secret documents Teixeira received were posted on social media Discord in March and possibly even earlier, but their existence only became known after they were published in The New York Times last week.
It is believed to be the most serious leak of classified material as more than 700,000 diplomatic documents, videos and cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010.
US authorities are still assessing the damage caused by the leaks, including the disclosure of Ukraine’s weaknesses in the war with Russia, as well as information affecting the national security of US allies Israel, South Korea and Turkey.
Although Teixeira’s charge has yet to be made public, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that the young man was arrested in “an investigation into the unauthorized removal, storage and transmission suspected of classified national defense information”.
If Teixeira is found guilty of intentionally leaking national defense information, he could face up to 10 years in prison. Teixeira could potentially face a longer prison term depending on the charges against him.
The main defendant in the WikiLeaks case, Chelsea Manning, was sentenced to 35 years in prison. President Barack Obama later commuted his sentence.
Last week, the Justice Department launched a formal criminal investigation into the current leaks following a request from the Defense Department. The leak was a “deliberate and criminal act,” the Pentagon said Thursday, adding that the military had taken steps to review lists of people with access to classified information.
At the moment, it is not known which of the lawyers will represent Teixeira’s interests in court.
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