A federal grand jury indicted Pentagon leak suspect Jack Teixeira on Thursday with six counts of knowingly withholding and passing on national defense information.
Teixeira, who was arrested in April, is suspected of leaking classified Defense Department documents on Discord, a social media platform used primarily by online gamers, while serving as a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.
“The unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified information endangers the security of our nation,” Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy for the District of Massachusetts said in a statement Thursday. «Persons granted access to classified materials have a fundamental duty to safeguard the information for the safety of the United States, our active duty service members, its citizens, and its allies.»
According to the indictment, Teixeira undertook a top-secret security clearance beginning in July 2021 and received training on the definition, classification levels, and proper handling of classified materials. He also said that he “improperly withheld and transmitted classified national defense information” on a social media platform.
A lawyer for Teixeira declined to comment on the accusation.
Teixeira accessed classified documents containing national defense information from a classified workstation at Otis US Air National Guard Base and transcribed the text of the documents which he then posted on the platform, according to the indictment.
He also allegedly took photos of classified documents with marks that included classified designations that he posted on the platform.
Teixeira remains in federal custody. Prosecutors have argued that he represents a flight risk.