Charges have been brought against the suspect in the US intelligence scandal two months after his arrest. A federal jury charged military man Jack Teixeira with six counts of premeditated hiding and disclosure of classified national defense information. The said the Justice Department in Washington on Thursday (local time) with.
Teixeira was arrested by the FBI in Massachusetts on April 13 after criminal charges had been filed against him. Since then, the 21-year-old has been behind bars for security reasons. “Teixeira is accused of providing information to users of a social media platform that he knew were not authorized to receive it,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. The US government entrusted the IT specialist with access to classified information – including information that he must have known would cause serious damage to US national security if passed on. According to the ministry, the man faces up to ten years in prison if convicted.
Teixeira joined the National Guard in September 2019 and received official clearance to view top-secret government documents in 2021. According to court documents released in May, Teixeira was warned by his superiors in September and October 2022. These warnings were about “worrying acts” that the defendant had undertaken in connection with classified information. He was instructed by his superiors not to take any more notes on classified information.
From January 2022, Teixeira is said to have deliberately published information classified as “secret” and “top secret” in a closed chat room on the Discord platform popular with video gamers. From there, they spread on the Internet until authorities and the media became aware of them. The leak only became public in April of this year.
The published, secret documents were, for example, information on the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, but also details on alleged US spying actions against partners.