Young American faces harsh sentence for leaking confidential documents
Pentagon leak suspect Jack Teixeira has been indicted by a federal grand jury. A US member of the Air National Guard has been charged with six counts of possession and transfer of classified documents related to national defense, according to the US Department of Justice.
Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old U.S. serviceman accused of leaking confidential intelligence and defense documents online, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday.
According to a Justice Department report, The Guardian writes, citing a Justice Department report, Teixeira, of North Dayton, Massachusetts, has been charged with six counts of knowingly possessing and transmitting classified national defense information.
U.S. District Court Justice of the Peace David Hennessy granted the government's motion to detain the defendant on May 19, the Justice Department added in a press statement.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said: “As stated in the indictment, the United States government Jack Teixeira access to classified national defense information, including information that, if disclosed, could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally serious harm to national security.”
He added: “Teixeira is accused of sharing information with users of the social media platform who he knew were not entitled to receive it. In doing so, he allegedly violated US law and endangered our national security.”
Jack Teixeira, who currently remains in federal custody, was arrested by armed FBI agents at his family's home in April of this year. He joined the US Air National Guard in September 2019 and has had a top secret clearance since 2021.
According to federal prosecutors, Teixeira is charged with willfully, improperly and unlawfully storing and transmitting national defense information, starting January 2022 or around that time. According to the indictment documents, the files in question were classified as “top secret” or “classified”.
The leak is believed to have originated on Discord, a social media platform popular with the online gaming community. Jack Teixeira is believed to have been the leader of a Discord group chat called Thug Shaker Central. Between 20 and 30 young people and teenagers participate in the chat, often writing about weapons, games and racist memes.
In April, Teixeira was charged on two separate counts under the Espionage Act, recalls The Guardian .
One of the charges is the unauthorized possession and transmission of national defense information that “may be used to harm the United States or in the interests of any foreign nation.”
Another charge is unauthorized seizure and possession of classified documents or materials.
Each charge of unauthorized possession and transmission of national defense information carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to 250 thousand dollars, according to the US Department of Justice.