Jack Teixeira, the Defense Department leak suspect, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on six counts related to the willful retention and transmission of national defense information.
Teixeira, a former Massachusetts Air National Guardsman, is accused of leaking classified Pentagon documents on the social media platform Discord. He was arrested in April.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy emphasized “The unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified information jeopardizes our nation’s security. Individuals granted access to classified materials have a fundamental duty to safeguard the information for the safety of the United States, our active service members, its citizens, and its allies.”
The indictment states that Jack Teixeira, who obtained a top-secret security clearance in July 2021 and received training on the handling of classified materials, is accused of improperly retaining and transmitting classified National Defense Information on a social media platform.
Teixeira’s attorney declined to provide any comments regarding the indictment.
Prior to this indictment, Teixeira faced charges related to the unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information, as well as the unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or materials.
According to the indictment, Teixeira allegedly obtained access to classified documents, including national defense information, from a classified workstation at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts. He is accused of transcribing the text from these documents and subsequently publishing it on the platform.
Additionally, Teixeira is alleged to have taken photos of classified documents that contained classified designations and shared them on the same platform.
Teixeira is currently in federal custody, and prosecutors have argued that he presents a flight risk.
