United States national security intelligence breach

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United States national security intelligence on Ukraine, Middle East and China leaked on social media in second breach

Australia and four other nations could be exposed following the leak of more than 100 top secret classified documents onto social media which appeared to discuss a number of topics.
David Wu

April 8, 2023

Top secret documents appearing to detail American intelligence on Ukraine, the Middle East and China have leaked online in a second consecutive breach.

Analysts believe more than 100 documents have been released to social media sites Twitter, Telegram, 4chan and other sites on Friday (local time).

The classified material included briefings on China, the Indo-Pacific region, the Middle East and terrorism, the New York Times reported.

It could be hugely damaging and become what one senior intelligence official described as a "nightmare" for the "Five Eyes" alliance of the US, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, who share surveillance information with each other.

The Biden administration is trying to manage the fallout from leaked classified intelligence documents that started circulating online in the past week.

Photos of pages of paper documents that appear to have been unfolded have appeared on social media, and some of the materials contain details from daily updates provided to senior leaders at the Pentagon about operations in Ukraine, as well as other intelligence updates, according to a Pentagon official.

CBS News has reviewed a number of slides so far, as the U.S. government continues to try to remove them from social media. Some include graphics and maps of the state of Russia's war in Ukraine as of March. Others depict combat sustainability assessments and an analysis of Ukraine's air defenses.

Asked by reporters Monday if the threat to national security has been contained, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby responded, "We don't know. We truly don't know."

The Biden administration is not yet sure how extensive the document leak is, and still doesn't know who is behind it. The Justice Department, at the request of the Defense Department, has opened a criminal investigation.

The Pentagon has not verified that the photos of the documents are authentic, and officials noted that some of them appeared to be doctored. But they also confirmed that some of the slides do appear to contain secret information.

Chris Meagher, assistant to the defense secretary for public affairs, told reporters Monday the "photos appear to show documents similar in format to those used to provide daily updates to our senior leaders on Ukraine and Russia related operations, as well as other intelligence updates."

Meagher declined to confirm the authenticity of specific documents. But Kirby said at least a portion of the material appeared to be altered.

"We know that some of them have been doctored," Kirby said. "I won't speak to the validity of all the documents, the ones that don't immediately appear to be doctored. We're still working through the validity of all the documents that we know are out there."

The Pentagon is leading an interagency effort to look at the impact of the leak on U.S. national security and on the United States' allies.

Kirby said the president has been briefed on the leak, and was updated throughout the weekend. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been speaking with senior leaders daily about the unauthorized disclosures, Meagher said Monday.

Pentagon Leaks Alarm Washington

Plus: Members of Congress concerned about flaws in the rollout of a forced-labor law.
By Haley Byrd Wilt
Apr 11, 2023

In the aftermath of a major leak of classified Pentagon documents, Defense Department officials are doing damage control with U.S. allies while developing policies to stop future breaches. Lawmakers are on recess, but that hasn’t stopped them from seeking more information about the leak or publicly commenting on the contents of the documents.

The top members of the Senate and House intelligence committees in particular have requested details, and congressional leaders are expected to ask the administration to deliver briefings in each chamber for all members about it.

The U.S. government is still determining how far the breach goes, but for now it appears to include at least 100 documents, many of which were intended only for the highest level of classification within the government. The documents have been circulating on online messaging channels since at least early March. The Dispatch could not independently authenticate them.

They contain sensitive intelligence about American allies, including South Korea and Israel, as well as detailed reports about the war in Ukraine. The exposure is placing stress on diplomatic relationships with allies.

One major takeaway: A file included in the leaks estimated Ukraine could run out of anti-aircraft missiles as soon as May, offering Russia a chance to achieve air superiority in the war. The situation is fluid and may have changed since the information was compiled, as allies have sent more resources to Ukraine. Defense hawks are pointing to the leak as they call for more aid to the country.

“The leaked military documents tell us what we already know: Ukraine is running low on weapons, and the Biden administration’s failure to act is prolonging the war,” said Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton.

Lawmakers are also responding to a major revelation within the leaks that, if true, would strain relations with Egypt. Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi and senior military officials outlined a plan to covertly supply Russia with ammunition and up to 40,000 rockets, according to a document dated February 17, while hoping “to avoid problems with the West.” Egyptian officials are denying the claims.

Egypt relies on roughly $1.3 billion in American security assistance each year. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy told the Washington Post that the plan, if true, should prompt “a serious reckoning about the state of our relationship.”

The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the leak, while the Pentagon is trying to determine how far it goes.

“We don’t know what else might be coming or what else they might have access to,” said Rep. Mike Turner, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. “That’s why it’s so important to find the source and to close down the source.”

The person suspected of recently leaking classified U.S. government documents has been identified as Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, two law enforcement officials said Thursday.

Officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said that officials have been tracking Teixeira for some time and that an arrest is imminent.

A Facebook post in July from the 102nd Intelligence Wing, which is headquartered at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod, congratulated an individual with the same name as Teixeira on a promotion to airman first class.

The suspect’s identity was first reported on Thursday by The New York Times, which said he was the leader of a small online gaming group where the documents were first leaked.

The Washington Post reported about the gaming group, and only identified him as "OG." The main source of the story was a minor who was granted anonymity and was a member of this group on the platform Discord. The Post said it reviewed approximately 300 photos of classified documents that the suspect allegedly leaked, most of which the report said have not been made public.

The suspects identity was leaked before he has been arrested has not escaped me.

Jack Teixeira wrote on social media that he wanted to kill a "ton of people" as a way of "culling the weak minded", according to a court filing.

The 18-page document also claimed the 21-year-old kept a bazooka and other weapons close to his bed.

On Thursday, prosecutors will argue he should remain in jail until his trial.

Mr Teixeira will appear at the detention hearing in a Massachusetts federal court. His legal team have not commented on the case but are expected to argue he should not be detained.

The filing from US justice department prosecutors on Wednesday outlined their case for keeping Mr Teixeira behind bars until his trial. It claims the IT specialist, who served in the 102nd Intelligence Support Squadron in Massachusetts, poses a threat to Americans and US national security.

According to the prosecutors, he posted repeatedly about "troubling" violent acts including a potential mass shooting. He allegedly described building an "assassination van" and driving around shooting people in a "crowded urban or suburban environment".

He also allegedly searched for multiple recent mass shootings on his government computer, including Uvalde and the Las Vegas shooting.

The filing also said a search of Mr Teixeira's home had uncovered "a virtual arsenal of weapons, including bolt-action rifles, rifles, AR and AK-style weapons, and a bazooka". The defendant kept his gun locker with multiple weapons approximately two feet from his bed, according to the court filing.

It added that he was suspended from high school when a classmate overheard him making threats and discussing Molotov cocktails as well as other weapons.

He discussed violence and murder online and was prone to making "racial threats", prosecutors wrote.

They also said that, after his arrest, the FBI found a tablet, a laptop and an Xbox gaming console at his home that had been smashed and placed in a dumpster.

The filing said he "may still have access to a trove of classified information" and poses a "serious flight risk" as hostile nations could potentially give him safe haven.

Marjorie Traitor Greene has been defending the leaker and what he did. I guess she really has a thing for traitors.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/p ... 234714836/

Good O'l republicans, they did this when Assange leaked emails about Hilary Clinton

Intel leak suspect was caught twice taking notes on classified info but allowed to keep access, prosecutors say

Two of Teixeira's commanders have been suspended from duty.

In their filing, prosecutors also acknowledge that the background check for his security clearance failed to detect “the significant volume of racist, antisemitic, and violent rhetoric he posted online.”

The filing is signed by Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins, who has announced her intention to resign this week after having been found to have committed serious misconduct in office unrelated to the Teixeira case.

Former Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years for stealing classified information from the Pentagon and sharing it online, the U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts announced.

Teixeira was sentenced before Judge Indira Talwani in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

“All of the responsibility falls on my shoulders," Teixeira said. "And I accept what that may bring."

The office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts argued for a 200-month sentence, or roughly 17 years, the maximum under an agreement between Teixeira and federal prosecutors.

Talwani noted the document leak happened after extensive training that covered the consequences for leaks and after Teixeira was warned about the way he handled classified material, according to WJAR.

“Despite that, you posted on the internet hundreds of documents over the period of a year,” the judge said.

The defendant's attorneys argued for a sentence on the low end of the range, noting that the maximum of 200 months would be more than the government sought against Julian Assange, who is accused of publishing a trove of classified documents.

They argued that Teixeira's autism and isolation during the pandemic contributed to his behavior.

In March, the national guardsman pleaded guilty to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act. The plea was part of the agreement, which included a recommended sentence of 11 to 17 years. He was arrested by the FBI in North Dighton, Massachusetts, in April 2023 and has been in federal custody since mid-May 2023.

After sentencing Tuesday, Jodi Cohen, special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office, described the defendant as "one of the most prolific leakers of classified information in American history."

Speaking at a post-sentencing news conference, she said Teixeira put classified information online almost every day for more than a year. "He transmitted it to our adversaries and our allies across the world," Cohen said.

Joshua S. Levy, acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said the defendant's crimes put U.S. personnel abroad at mortal risk, damaged relationships with allies and may have revealed some of the ways the country gathers such material.

"He leaked information that the government determined was likely to cause grave damage to the United States," he said at the news conference.

Among the documents exposed was information on troop movements, he said.

According to court documents, Teixeira transcribed classified documents that he then shared on Discord, a social media platform mostly used by online gamers. He began sharing the documents in or around 2022, in part to impress peers on the platform, prosecutors alleged.

A document he was accused of leaking included information about providing equipment to Ukraine, while another included discussions about a foreign adversary's plot to target American forces abroad, prosecutors said.

He was able to access the documents because he held a top-secret security clearance since around July 2021 and had received training in the definition of classified information, classification levels and proper handling of the material, according to the indictment.

While the documents were discovered online in March 2023, Teixeira had been sharing them online for more than a year, according to prosecutors.

Levy said the sentence could serve as a warning to anyone pondering such a leak. "The judge recognized the gravity of this conduct and the enduring nature of the harm," he said.

While sentencing closed a chapter of the case, Levy argued wreckage caused by the defendant will continue to resonate.

“We won’t know the full extent of Jack Teixeira’s damage for several years," he said.