Accused Air National Guardsman leaked classified intelligence for more than a year
A newly discovered Discord chat shows Jack Teixeira allegedly was sharing documents since the war in Ukraine began.
The Air National Guardsman who allegedly leaked dozens of classified documents onto a Discord chat had been doing it for twice as long as previously known, and to more people.
That’s according to a new report from the New York Times. Airman Jack Teixiera, already charged with leaking classified information to the smaller chat group, allegedly shared additional information to another Discord chat, with as many as 600 members, since February 2022. The information included details on both Ukrainian and Russian casualties in the war as well as details tracking Russian spies. Per the New York Times, the information was sourced from intelligence reports from the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency, among others. The user profile on the second Discord server matches Teixeira.
Teixeira, 21, was arrested on April 13. He had been allegedly posting documents to a Discord group since October 2022, obtained through his work with the 102nd Intelligence Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard. He apparently was sharing the information not as a whistleblower, but to apparently curry favor and win arguments with the roughly 50 or so members of the group chat.
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Teixeira is currently facing charges under the Espionage Act. As of press time, no additional action has been taken regarding these newly discovered leaks. It is also unclear how Teixeira was able to share these documents online over such a long period of time without being discovered. According to the New York Times, images of the documents were posted and later deleted, but the user shared long write-ups of what the material contained as well. It’s not clear why he shared the information to this chat as well, as there is no immediate evidence of him trying to win an argument, but the user behind the leaks did write “I have a little more than open source info. Perks of being in a [United States Air Force] intel unit.”
The posts go back to just after Russia invaded Ukraine, with early posts discussing ongoing combat and detailing Russia’s pull back from Kyiv after it failed to take the capital. Posts continued for more than a year, ending only in March. Some of the posts were made to the chat apparently while on a military base.
Since the initial Discord leaks came to light earlier this month multiple parties have responded to the sensitive information, both in the United States and abroad. Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Putin-aligned Wagner Group that’s fighting in Ukraine, downplayed their importance.
Asked yesterday about the initial round of leaks and the expected Ukrainian spring offensive, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said at a press conference at Ramstein Air Base that he is “not going to comment on future operations specifically or any of the substance that’s in any of these leaks that are out there.”
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