An Air National Guardsman named Jack Teixeira, 21, was charged with two counts on Friday in relation to the significant leak of highly classified Pentagon documents.
Why it’s important The revelations about the U.S. government’s relationships with its enemies and allies have caused the leak to garner international attention.
The latest: Prosecutors said in a court filing seeking Teixeira’s continued detention late Wednesday that he was an “ongoing risk” to both U.S. national security and the community and “may still have access to a trove of classified information.”
The charges
Teixeira is facing two separate counts:
The unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information.
The unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material.
Teixeira had yet not entered a formal plea, per CNN.
Who is Jack Teixeira?
Teixeira, currently the prime suspect in the case, came from a military family and was mobilized for federal active duty last fall, the Washington Post reported.
He was stationed at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts and was detailed to an Air Force intelligence unit, according to AP.
Teixeira worked as an IT specialist responsible for military communications networks.
His work meant he had a higher level of security clearance in order to access the military communications networks, a defense official told AP, helping explain how he had access to the classified documents.
