The young man arrested on Thursday as the alleged author of the leak of hundreds of highly compromising State secrets for the security of the country and for its relations with the rest of the world is a 21-year-old guy; an airman employed by the intelligence wing of the Air National Guard, yes, but, obviously, without great experience or high direct involvement in the United States espionage system. However, and according to FBI sources, Jack Teixeira had access to all or a large part of the secret and top-secret material that months ago, apparently to impress, he began to share with a group of two dozen netizens who were fond of video games and weapons. ..., as well as racist jokes.
How is something like this possible? The explanation is as simple as shocking. In what is considered the first superpower on the planet, the leader and model of the “free world”, almost 1.2 million people have access to top-secret information, and more than 1.6 million, to confidential or secret information.
Teixeira, an employee at the Otis Air Guard Base (Massachusetts) did not belong, therefore, to a super select club nor did he have to steal from anyone the papers with which he gave importance to a handful of boys as young or older than him ; the papers were simply within his reach; Another thing is that he, of course, was forbidden to take them from there and show them to third parties, as he did.
After his spectacular arrest at his home in North Dighton (Massachusetts), Teixeira appeared yesterday before District Judge David Hennessy, who read the charges against him: retention and transmission of national defense information, and extraction and retention deliberate removal of classified documents. He can be sentenced to 15 years maximum, according to legal sources.
The soldier arrived at the court handcuffed and dressed in khaki prison overalls. After the reading of charges, the judge called a next appearance next Wednesday to determine his situation until the trial. The Prosecutor's Office will ask that he continue in jail.
As soon as the arrest warrant against the aviator was confirmed, the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, ordered an internal review of the intelligence "access, responsibility and control" procedures within the department to "prevent this type of incident from happening again." ”. Austin added: "I will not hesitate to take whatever additional steps are necessary to safeguard our nation's secrets."
Washington has a problem with his secrets. This has been known for decades and became very present when it was discovered that Donald Trump deliberately and with some ease took home hundreds of classified papers; and even more so when it was learned that President Joe Biden also had around twenty confidential records at home and in an old office, and when former Vice President Mike Pence also realized that he was improperly keeping a dozen documents with him. reserved.
According to the Office of National Archives Security Oversight, no fewer than 50 million document classifications are carried out each year in the United States. Historian and specialist on the subject Matthew Connelly puts the figure at 90 million per year, at a rate of “three classifications per second”. In any case, between 2,000 and 3,000 officials have the power to classify paper or technology.
What is considered the biggest leak of secrets in the US since the Wikileaks case, more than ten years ago, began when Teixeira took home, photographed and shared with his small online group, called Thug Shaker Central and closed to the abroad, relevant secrets about the war in Ukraine or Washington's spying on Russia, but also on allies, such as Ukraine itself, Israel, South Korea or Egypt. On March 2, according to The New York Times, one of the chat participants, Luca, a 17-year-old Californian, shared some of the material on the public Discord network. Immediately, the papers arrived on Instagram and Twitter. The secret was blown to pieces. And a piece of America's prestige, too.
