Charges against the young soldier Jack Teixeira, who is suspected of leaking a series of classified US documents about the war in Ukraine, which embarrassed Washington, were handed down yesterday, Friday, April 15, by the Federal court in Boston.

21-year-old Jack Douglas Teixeira was presented yesterday in front of the federal court in Boston, in the northeastern United States, where he appeared in a prisoner’s uniform.

The Massachusetts Air National Guard member is accused of “unauthorized retention and transmission of information related to ‘national defense'” and “unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material,” according to a court document.

For these two charges he can be sentenced to 10 years and 5 years in prison respectively. US Attorney General Merrick Garland pledged to seek “very heavy sentences”.

The young man was remanded in custody pending a further hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

The day after his arrest, all eyes were on this young military man, who took advantage of his position to broadcast to a private group on the social media Discord confidential and sensitive documents about operations in Ukraine.

Since Thursday, aerial photos of his arrest in Dayton, a small rural Massachusetts town, or a photo of him in uniform have been circulating around the world.

“Very serious risk”

The case raises questions about possible security breaches and how a young soldier was able to access such documents.

The classified documents, some of which were subsequently circulated on Twitter and Telegram among other social media, mainly reveal US intelligence concerns about the viability of a Ukrainian counterattack against Russian forces.

They also indicate that Washington is gathering intelligence on its closest allies, notably Israel and South Korea.

According to the US newspaper “Washington Post”, they also show that the US intelligence services were aware of the overflight of sensitive equipment by four other Chinese spy balloons in addition to the one spotted in February and shot down by the US military.

One of those spy balloons flew primarily over a US aircraft carrier maneuvering its airborne group in the Pacific Ocean, the paper said.

The National Guard announced that Jack Teixeira was commissioned in September 2019, that he was working as an IT and communications specialist and that he had reached the rank of sub-ensign, which is the third rank from the base.

Teixeira had a classified clearance from 2021, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit in support of the prosecution.

“People who sign pledges to receive classified documents know the national security importance of not disclosing those documents. And we intend to send a message (to show) how important this is to our national security.” , noted Attorney General Merrick Garland.

His Discord group, which Teixeira served as leader under the nickname “OG,” was formed in 2020 around a mutual passion for firearms, military hardware and religion, according to the New York Times and “Washington Post”.

“OG” had asked other members of the group on Discord not to release the documents, asserting that he had no intention of becoming a public interest witness, according to the Washington Post. He was critical of the state — denouncing its “abuse of power” — the forces of order and the intelligence community.

According to the FBI agent’s statement, Teixeira began releasing classified information in December.

First, excerpts from paragraphs of documents, then photos of the documents themselves.

– Control –

US President Joe Biden told reporters during a visit to Ireland that he had asked the Pentagon to clarify “why” the young serviceman “had access to these documents” and assess the scope of the leaks. “I don’t think this will take long,” he noted.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Thursday that he had ordered “control of access to our information.”

The dozens of photos of classified documents no doubt circulated for weeks, if not months, before they attracted media attention.

US authorities have not, however, publicly confirmed the authenticity of the documents posted online. This has also not yet been confirmed even by independent sources.

Many of these classified documents are no longer available on the websites they originally appeared on.