Described as a patriot through pals and coming from a own circle of relatives boasting many years of army service, Jack Teixeira appears an not going cause for the biggest US espionage scandal in many years. But the low-rating country wide guardsman who possessed pinnacle mystery protection clearance at a younger age is accused of being simply that, and faces years in jail if convicted of leaking dozens of categorised files.
The portrait painted withinside the US media through individuals who recognise Teixeira is extra one in every of a naive younger guy in search of to electrify pals than a crusading whistleblower rationale on blowing open American secrets. The 21-year-vintage from the small city of Dighton in southern Massachusetts enlisted with americaA Air Force National Guard in September 2019.
According to courtroom docket files bringing up authorities records, Teixeira reached the rank of airman first class — the third-lowest for enlisted air pressure personnel — in May 2022. He is a communications and IT professional primarily based totally at Otis Air National Guard Base in Cape Cod, round 70 miles (one hundred ten kilometers) south of Boston.
As of February this year, Teixeira`s identify turned into cyber protection operations journeyman, an FBI agent stated in a courtroom docket affidavit launched Friday. Special Agent Patrick Lueckenhoff delivered that, “As required for this position, Teixeira holds a pinnacle mystery protection clearance, which turned into granted in 2021.”
In addition to that clearance, Teixeira additionally maintained “touchy compartmented access (SCI) to different exceptionally categorised programs,” considering that 2021, Lueckenhoff delivered. SCI is statistics this is in addition restricted. To acquire access, Teixeira might needed to have agreed to “well protect” the statistics through now no longer disclosing it to human beings with out privileged access.
He might additionally had been required to agree now no longer to cast off it from “legal garage facilities” or preserve it in “unauthorized locations,” the affidavit delivered. The crook criticism alleges that Teixeira started posting categorised statistics in a talk institution at the net platform Discord in and round December closing year.
The institution’s motive turned into “to talk about geopolitical affairs and cutting-edge and historic wars.” Teixeira is accused of first posting paragraphs of textual content from files earlier than occurring to publish pictures of the files themselves.
‘Loner’
The authorities says pc logs display that Teixeira accessed a file approximately troop moves withinside the Russia-Ukraine conflict an afternoon earlier than it turned into reposted online. One buddy instructed the paper that Teixeira had now no longer desired to undermine US country wide protection however was hoping to train more youthful participants of the web institution.
“He cherished America however truely failed to sense assured in its future,” the Post quoted the character as saying. Other participants of the institution stated Teixeira had shared racist and anti-Semitic jokes. Teixeira comes from a own circle of relatives with many years of army service, in keeping with the Washington Post.
His stepfather spent 34 years withinside the identical unit as his son, at the same time as Teixeira’s mom labored for non-earnings corporations that help veterans, the newspaper stated. Friends instructed the Post that Teixeira turned into patriotic, a religious Catholic and a libertarian. They delivered that he had an hobby in weapons.
Former classmates instructed CNN that he might occasionally put on camouflage to school. “He turned into extra of a loner, and having a fascination with conflict and weapons made him off-setting to a whole lot of human beings,” stated one.