Jack Teixeira has appeared in court in Boston to face charges of leaking classified information
Fresh questions are being asked as to how the 21-year-old, accused of being behind the humiliating security breach, got clearance to access sensitive secrets.
Prosecutors are expected to reveal new details about the allegations that could include being charged under the Espionage Act.
Jack Douglas Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the U.S. Air National Guard who was arrested by the FBI over his alleged involvement in leaks online of classified documents, poses for a selfie at an unidentified location
A 21-year-old US Air Force National Guard employee has been arrested over the leak of highly sensitive US defence and intelligence documents
The legislation, passed during the First World War, aims to regulate the handling of secret government documents and punishes offenders with heavy jail terms.
Teixeira, a National Guard member, posted a slew of of highly classified military documents that touched upon the Ukraine war and other national security issues.
FBI investigators arrested Teixeira at his mother’s home in Dighton, Massachusetts on Thursday before bundling him into the back of a police van by armed agents.
Teixeira posted the treasure trove of top secret files under his online user name ‘Jack the Dripper’ for months before the leak was uncovered.
He worked as a junior cyber security specialist in the intelligence unit based at the Otis Air National Guard Base in western Cape Cod.
It is believed to have started on a site called Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games.
Teixeira is believed to have posted about guns, games and top secret US government information.
This document appears to show the state of Ukraine’s air defenses in February and in May, when it is anticipated they’ll be badly depleted
He was identified as the ringleader of a chatroom, known as Thug Shaker Central, on Discord, an invite-only platform.
He then allegedly posted images of folded-up papers because he felt his writings weren’t being taken seriously, the Associated Press reported.
Officials at the US Justice Department have opened a probe into the 21-year-old, whose actions embarrassed US allies around the world.
Long-standing friends of Washington from Britain to South Korea and Israel slammed much of the information as bogus.
It outlined possible arms deliveries to Ukraine, as well as details of Western-led training for the Ukrainian armed forces.
But in an interview with ABC News, one of the country’s most senior military officials dismissed the leak’s impact on Kyiv’s battlefield plans.
‘This will not be able to affect the real results of the offensive operation,’ said Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s head of military intelligence.
The country’s top spy is credited for being one of the few Ukrainian officials to correctly predict the timing of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor.
The 21-year-old’s actions have been roundly criticized by lawmakers from all political parties.
But he received support from far-right Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, who mistakenly referred to him as ‘Jake Teixeira’ on Twitter.
In yet another unhinged social media rant, the Congresswoman representing Georgia’s 14th District claimed he was being prosecuted because of his skin color.
‘Jake Teixeira is white, male, Christian, and antiwar,’ Greene said. ‘That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime.’
The 48-year-old repeatedly parrots Kremlin talking points on Ukraine, including the entirely fictional claim that that the country is overrun with Nazis.
