MA Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira Indicted Over Classified Leaks

BOSTON, MA — A grand jury has indicted accused national security leaker Jack Teixeira on six charges, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.

Teixeira, 21, was arrested at his Dighton home in April, suspected of leaking classified military intelligence to members of an online group he was part of. The grand jury indicted him on six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information relating to the national defense.

Teixeira was an Air National Guardsman stationed at Joint Base Cape Cod. He has been incarcerated in Plymouth since his April 13 arrest.

“The unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified information jeopardizes our nation’s security. Individuals granted access to classified materials have a fundamental duty to safeguard the information for the safety of the United States, our active service members, its citizens and its allies,” acting United States Attorney Joshua Levy said in a news release. “We are committed to ensuring that those entrusted with sensitive national security information adhere to the law.”

Teixeira is accused of leading a gaming chat group made up of up to 30 young men and teenagers where he distributed leaked documents revealing details of the U.S. spying on Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine, secret assessments of Ukraine’s combat power and intelligence gathering on America’s allies.

Prosecutors say Teixeira kept an arsenal of weapons in his bedroom at his home with his mother and stepfather in North Dighton. He also made regular comments about violence and murder on social media, including musings about wanting to “kill a [expletive] ton of people” because it would be "culling the weak-minded." He also planned to convert a minivan into an "assassination van," prosecutors said.