FBI arrests Airman for alleged leaking of U.S secret documents

By Sola Omoniyi, Lagos

Jack Teixeira, an employee of the U.S. Air Force National Guard, has been arrested by FBI agents arrest in connection with an investigation into the leaks online of classified U.S. documents.

The 21-year-old member of the U.S. Air National Guard was accused of leaking top-secret military intelligence records online and was charged on Friday with unlawfully copying and transmitting classified material.

Jack Douglas Teixeira of North Dighton, Massachusetts, who was arrested by heavily armed FBI agents at his home on Thursday, made his initial appearance in a crowded federal court wearing a brown khaki jumpsuit.

According to the report, at the hearing, Boston’s top federal national security prosecutor, Nadine Pellegrini, requested that Teixeira be detained pending trial.

The judge stated that Teixeira’s financial affidavit showed he qualified to be represented by a federal public defender, and he appointed one.

It was said that the leaked documents were believed to be the most serious U.S. security breach since more than 700,000 documents, videos and diplomatic cables appeared on the WikiLeaks website in 2010. The Pentagon has called the leak a “deliberate, criminal act.”

This leak did not come to light until it was reported by the New York Times last week even though the documents were posted on a social media website weeks earlier.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday he ordered investigators to determine why the alleged leaker had access to the sensitive information, which included records showing purported details of Ukrainian military vulnerabilities and embarrassed Washington by revealing its spying on allies.