Jack Teixeira, the soldier indicted for the leak of Pentagon documents, made “threats” on the Internet
Jack Teixeira, the young American soldier indicted for having diffused a series of confidential American documents on the war in Ukraine, uttered ” threat “ online and would pose a danger if released, prosecutors said during a detention hearing. Arrested on April 13 by the federal police (FBI), a few days after the revelation of the leaks and their content in several American media, Jack Teixeira, 21, faces at this stage 25 years in prison and poses a “serious risk of leakage”in the eyes of the prosecutors.
“He had access and may still have access to a body of classified information of great value to hostile states which could offer him refuge and attempt to facilitate his escape from the United States”, also indicate the representatives of the American government, in a legal document made public on the eve of the hearing. On the contrary, his lawyers underlined that this risk was very exaggerated and that the hypothesis of recruitment by a foreign State fell within the scope of ” the speculation “. The young Air National Guard recruit appeared in court in Worcester, Massachusetts. The judge announced that he would later make a decision on whether or not to keep him in pre-trial detention.
According to a court document made public before the hearing to support his continued detention, the young man “regularly made comments about violence and killings” on social networks. “In November 2022, he said if it was up to him, he would ‘kill a ton of people’ to ‘kill the weak-minded'”, write the prosecutors. They add that in February 2023, Jack Teixeira had also asked another Internet user for advice on the type of rifle that would be easier to use in the back of an SUV vehicle, evoking a mass shooting. “in an urban or suburban crowd”.
Prosecutors also point out that the suspect had several weapons, some “a few meters from his bed”, and that the search of his mother’s and father’s homes had revealed a “virtual arsenal” including guns and a bazooka.
In March 2018, while a high school student, he was suspended from school “because a classmate had heard him talking about weapons, including Molotov cocktails, guns at school and racial threats”, prosecutors add. He justified himself during an interrogation by evoking a discussion on video games.
According to American justice, Jack Teixeira, who faces twenty-five years in prison at this stage, poses a “serious risk of leakage”. “He had access and may still have access to a body of classified information of great value to hostile states which could offer him refuge and attempt to facilitate his escape from the United States”says the court document.
Hired in September 2019, with assignments as a computer and communications specialist, Jack Teixeira is suspected of having taken advantage of his position and his security clearance “ top secret” to gain access to confidential documents and then share them with a private group on the Discord social network. These documents, some of which subsequently circulated on Twitter and Telegram, among others, reveal in particular the concerns of American intelligence services about the viability of a Ukrainian counter-offensive against Russian forces.