A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted Pentagon leak suspect Jack Teixeira on six counts of withholding and knowingly transmitting national defense information.
Teixeira, who was arrested in April, is suspected of leaking classified Defense Department documents to Discord, a social media platform used primarily by online gamers, while serving as a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman.
“The unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified information endangers the security of our nation,” U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy for the District of Massachusetts said in a statement. “Individuals with access to classified materials have a fundamental duty to safeguard the information for the security of the United States, our active duty service members, its citizens and its allies.”
According to the indictment, Teixeira had 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 he “improperly withheld and transmitted classified national defense information” to a social media platform.
An attorney for Teixeira declined to comment on the accusation.
Teixeira accessed classified documents containing national defense information from a classified workstation at the US Air National Guard’s Otis 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 bearing markings that included classified designations that he posted on the platform.
Teixeira remains in federal custody. The prosecution has argued that he is a flight risk.
