Defendant of Pentagon leaks could face more than 10 years in prison

It is believed to be the most serious leak since Wikileaks in 2010. Jack Douglas Teixeira, who served as a member of the National Guard in Boston, appeared before a federal homeland security judge in that city and faces charges of illegally removing and withholding classified files.

“There are very serious penalties attached to that, the people who signed agreements to be able to receive classified documents recognize the importance to Homeland Security of not disclosing those documents and we intend to send that message,” said US Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Teixeira, 21, will be represented by a public attorney and has been detained pending trial. US officials are still assessing the damage caused by these leaks, which included details of Ukrainian military vulnerabilities and embarrassed Washington by revealing that it was spying on its allies. President Joe Biden tried to minimize the consequences.

“Well, I’m not worried about the leak, I’m worried that it happened, but there’s nothing contemporaneous that I know of, that’s of great importance.”

When leaving the court, the family of the accused soldier did not say a word, but his neighbor and classmate described him as good-natured.

“Yeah, a good guy. He had a clear head, he wanted to join the Army. That’s all I can really say about it,” said Tyler Ellinwood, Jack Teixeira’s neighbor and classmate.

In the criminal complaint, Teixeira faces crimes that can each carry 10 years in prison. According to the Washington Post, they have traced the early appearance of classified documents on a server for video game fans, Discord, where Teixeira reportedly called himself OG. This medium also interviewed two members of this platform who, anonymous because they were minors, described how the leaks came about.