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Updated April 14th, 2023 at 22:57 IST

Jack Teixeira: What punishment could the Pentagon leak suspect face? Read to know

Teixeira used the nick "OG" in a Discord chat room, which is where the documents are thought to have first appeared. He has been taken into custody by the FBI.

Reported by: Digital Desk
Jack Teixeira
Image: Twitter/@BattlementLK | Image:self
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A 21-year-old member of the US national guard has been accused of espionage for posting extremely sensitive military secrets online. The leak of sensitive information regarding the eavesdropping operations and the conflict in the Ukraine has embarrassed Washington and put relations with important allies in jeopardy. The leak has been referred to as a "very serious risk to national security" by the Pentagon.

Who is Jack Teixeira?

The 21-year-old was an airman first class at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts. He enlisted in the Air National Guard in 2019 and was employed as a "cyber transport systems journeyman," tasked to maintain and protect military communications networks. He would have had a greater degree of security clearance as a result, SkyNews reported.

At his home in the little town of Dighton, which is about 50 miles (80 km) south of Boston and has a population of 8,000, Teixeira was taken into custody by armed FBI agents on Thursday. He previously attended Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School, according to a neighbour.

What punishment could Teixeira face?

Jack's former schoolmate Eddy Souza, 22, said: "He's a good kid, not a troublemaker, just a quiet guy. It sounds like it was a stupid kid's mistake," as reported by SkyNews. 

Teixeira used the nick "OG" in a Discord chat room, which is where the documents are thought to have first appeared. Its members, who were largely young and called themselves Thug Shaker Central, were in a group of roughly 20 people who discussed jokes and memes, some of which were racist as well as their favourite firearms.

Teixeira is thought to have frequented the website for a long time. Those who spoke with him claim that he also posted about tightly held US secrets, despite the fact that Teixeira has been characterised as being more brazen than ideological in his motivations. He used to type the delicate information out with his own annotations, but a few months ago, he moved to posting pictures of folded-up papers because, according to one member, he thought he wasn't being taken seriously.

Teixeira is being detained "in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorised removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defence information" and might be charged with espionage and sentenced to a significant jail term if found guilty.

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Published April 14th, 2023 at 22:57 IST

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