Ex-US intelligence official makes massive claim about Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira

After 21-year-old Jack Teixeria appeared in a US court for the controversial Pentagon document leak, former US President Donald Trump’s ex-national security aide claims that it cannot be a one man’s job. Earlier this month, the United States of America witnessed the worst national security breach in history after a large batch of classified US government information was leaked online. From speculations about Putin’s health to claims of spying on the US allies, the documents revealed several dark secrets the Pentagon had in store. After the whole saga played out, the Federal Bureau of Investigation determined that it was 21-year-old Jack Teixeira who was allegedly behind the whole ordeal. The young man worked in cyber security for the Air National Guard.

On Saturday, the ex-US President Donald Trump’s erstwhile Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Kash Patel, reacted to the whole ordeal. During his interview with the American news outlet Breitbart News, Trump’s aide stated that “It’s just not possible” for a low-level Air National Guard IT specialist to have access to such information, which was eventually leaked. “You can be the biggest IT person in [the Department of Defense], and you are still compartmented off of the actual information,” Patel told the news outlet on Saturday. “Almost never does an IT person need to know, as we say, the substance of intelligence. Their job is to provide the security information systems around it to protect any disclosures,” he added. 

The one-time chief of staff stated that the kind of information, Teixeria was accused of releasing, was not something accessible to 99% of the people who currently have top security clearance. The US official made it clear that he doesn't believe for a single second that the 21-year-old conducted this operation all alone. The security aide of the former US President called the whole ordeal “an Assange-style operation”. Patel was referring to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is currently facing espionage charges for helping US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in sealing classified military files. 

‘He is working with other people in the DOD’: Patel

During the interview with the conservative news outlet, Patel speculated that Teixeira must have been working with other people in the US Department of Defense. “The way it was produced, the way it was put out there — pages, printed photographs taken, published online — that is a methodical way of releasing classified information illegally,” Patel asserted on Saturday. “I think he’s definitely working with other people in DOD or the intel space to get this information out,” he added. The US official called the whole ordeal “an extensive cover-up,” Breitbart News reported.

It was in 2019 when Jack joined the Massachusetts Air National Guard. He worked there as Cyber Transport Systems Journeyman and was responsible for the maintenance of military communications hardware for the Air National Guard’s 102nd Intelligence Wing. The photos of the leaked document first appeared in “Thug Shakers Central”. Teixeira was arrested from his mother’s home in North Dighton, Massachusetts.