A 21-year-old member of the U.S. Air National Guard accused of leaking top secret military intelligence records online was charged on Friday, April 14 with unlawfully copying and transmitting classified material.
Jack Teixeira of North Dighton, Massachusetts, appeared in a Boston court where he was officially charged with unauthorized detention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal of classified information and defense materials.
The charges carry sentences of up to 10 and five years, respectively.
The 21-year-old who was shackled and wore prison khakis was ordered to be held until a detention hearing next Wednesday, April 19.
EsB reported Teixeira was arrested by heavily armed federal agents outside his North Dighton, Massachusetts home on Thursday, April 13, following a weeklong probe into the release of secret government records online.
He is alleged to have accessed the highly classified materials through his guardsman position and then shared it with members of the private Discord chat group that he was in charge of earlier this year.
The classified materials, which included battlefield information related to the war in Ukraine, South Korea and Israel, were eventually posted on other social media channels before going viral.
The judge said Teixeira’s financial affidavit showed he qualified to be represented by a federal public defender, and he appointed one.
Teixeira didn’t enter a formal plea during Friday’s proceedings and only responded quietly when the judge informed him of his rights. During the hearing, his father shouted out ‘I love you, Jack.’
Teixeira did not turn around but replied ‘I love you dad,’ Fox News reported.
Teixeira’s access to government systems and security clearance has been revoked in the wake of his arrest.
According to an affidavit unsealed Friday, social media site, Discord’s billing records and interviews with another user helped the FBI identify Teixeira as the alleged leaker.
The user, who isn’t identified in the affidavit, told the FBI that a Discord username linked to Teixeira started posting what appeared to be classified information around December.
Teixeira, who had allegedly initially typed out the documents to share with his online pals, started taking them home and photographing them because he was ‘concerned that he may be discovered making the transcriptions of text in the workplace,’ the affidavit says.
The leaked documents were believed to be the most serious U.S. security breach since more than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010.
The Pentagon has called the leak a ‘deliberate, criminal act.’
