Authorities arrested Teixeira on Thursday, following a series of reports identifying him as the leader of a group on the gaming site Discord, where documents containing significant intelligence on adversaries as well as allies were published in recent months before spreading to other social networking sites.
Teixeira, who served in the 102nd Intelligence Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was a member of the technology support staff, a relatively low-ranking position, but one who still had access to the Joint World Intelligence Communications System (JWICS) of the pentagon, a intelligence information clearinghouse.
Dozens of pieces of information that appear to come from the database were shared with 20 to 30 members from an online group.
The Pentagon has begun sacrificing their mailing listsbut the episode has renewed discussions about how the intelligence community shares information and doles out clearances.
“There are systems that give access to people, based on the level of classifications that have been provided to them. And so they can see things that maybe they don’t need to know, and I don’t know how you cordon those things off. But we trust people to respect their authorizations. And there are a lot of people who don’t take it very seriously,” he said. david schenkerformer top State Department and Pentagon official during the Trump and George W. Bush administrations.
Nearly 3 million Americans have a security clearance, while about 1.2 million have access to information that is considered top secret.
In the case of Teixeira, what It started as a summary Intelligence reporting for your friends on the Internet has been stepped up to print and take photos of classified intelligence, including some labeled “NOFORN,” indicating not to be shared with foreigners.
While printing, photographing and sharing classified information is a crime, Teixeira was arraigned on Friday, charges including violating the Espionage Act — many were surprised by the ease of doing it and that it came out unnoticed for so long.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
