Air Force Finds Leaker Jack Teixeira’s Superiors Knew He Was Trawling for US Secrets, but ‘Intentionally Failed to Report’ It

Airman 1st Class Jack D. Teixeira posted photos of classified documents to the social media site multiple times, the Air Force alleges

A U.S. Air National Guardsman based in Massachusetts was able to keep leaking classified information on the social media platform Discord for over a year because supervisors who were aware of his questionable actions said nothing, an internal investigation has found.

As a result, the Air Force has disciplined 15 personnel in connection with the massive classified documents leak, concluding that multiple officials intentionally failed to take required action on his suspicious behavior, the Air Force inspector general reported Monday.

The IG investigation found that the source of the leak from the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base was allegedly Airman 1st Class Jack D. Teixeira.

Teixeira, 21, has been indicted by the Department of Justice on six counts for the unauthorized disclosure of national defense information and is awaiting a trial date.

The documents released on social media revealed sensitive U.S. intelligence on the Russia-Ukraine war, the Middle East and an array of other topics.

The airman is thought to have begun sharing information online in Feb. 2022, after gaining unsupervised access to information in the Force's systems. At first, he leaked rewritten paragraphs from classified documents, but later began taking photos of documents and posting those on Discord.

At one point, he was reportedly spotted writing down information from documents onto a Post-It note, but there was no follow up.

The IG investigation found that other members of his unit had some idea about the IT specialist's suspicious actions but failed to report him, while leadership was lacking in its inspections of all personnel.

Multiple individuals in Teixeira's team had knowledge of at least four "security incidents and potential insider threat indicators they were required to report," the investigation found. However, some avoided reporting his actions because of discrepancies in how "Need to Know" status was interpreted.

If they had acted, the report said, then the severity and breadth of Teixeira's leaks may have been reduced by several months.

"A smaller number of unit members had a more complete picture of A1C Teixeira’s intelligence-seeking behaviors and intentionally failed to report the full details of these security concerns/incidents as outlined in DoD security policies, fearing security officials might 'overreact,'" the report said.

Col. Sean Riley, 102 IW commander, received administrative action and was relieved of command for cause.

Meanwhile, Col. Enrique Dovalo, 102d Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group commander, received administrative action for concerns with unit culture and compliance with policies and standards.

The 102nd Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group was taken off mission when Teixiera's actions were discovered and their work is still being carried out by other organizations.

“Every Airman and Guardian is entrusted with the solemn duty to safeguard our nation’s classified defense information. When there is a breach of that sacred trust, for any reason, we will act in accordance with our laws and policies to hold responsible individuals accountable,” Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said in a press release.

“Our national security demands leaders at every level protect critical assets, ensuring they do not fall into the hands of those who would do the United States or our allies and partners harm.”

The Air Force has taken actions to review and update policies around the accountability of access to classified documents, as well as making sure that "clearance approval levels and need-to-know are two fundamentally distinct concepts."

For Teixiera, each of the six charges of unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information could mean a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.

— with Associated Press