A national guard member, Jack Teixeira, has been charged in connection with leaking classified Pentagon documents. Teixeira was charged with keeping and deliberately sharing secret information related to national defense in six counts by a federal grand jury, according to the US Department of Justice. He was arrested on April 13 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Massachusetts after facing criminal complaints, and has remained incarcerated since then for safety reasons.

Teixeira is accused of disseminating information to unauthorized users of a social media app, said Attorney General Merrick Garland. The US government had entrusted the IT expert with secret information, including that which Teixeira knew would gravely jeopardize US national security if leaked. A breach of the leaked data exposed assessments on the war in Ukraine, defense capabilities, geopolitical interests of other countries and subjects related to national security to the public.

If found guilty, the man could face up to 10 years in prison, according to the Justice Department. Teixeira joined the National Guard in September 2019, and was authorized to view top-secret government documents in 2021.

Leak was made public in April

Teixeira reportedly released information from top-secret government documents on a Discord group chatroom, which is popular among gamers, between January and April of this year. Among the revelations was classified information related to national defense whose public release would endanger US national security.  The documents leaked by Teixeira came to the attention of both media and regulatory bodies, but only became public in April of this year.