Insights from the recent discovery of leaked classified US military information

On 13 April 2023, 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guard Airman First Class Jack Douglas Teixeira was arrested by the FBI on charges of improperly taking and leaking dozens of highly classified documents after batches of sensitive information, including national security secrets pertaining to US surveillance in Russia, were posted to Thug Shaker Central, an online gaming chat room, on the social media platform Discord.

Several months ago, a Thug Shaker Central user under the name O.G., later identified as Teixeira, began uploading hundreds of pages of intelligence briefings into the chat group. The documents gained wider attention when one of the teenage members of the group posted some of them to a public online forum and were then picked up by Russian-language Telegram channels and the Times, which first broke the story.

According to reports, security briefing slides, which eventually made their way to sites like Twitter, detail US training and equipment schedules to support Ukraine, assessment of losses, information the US is monitoring on key allies and strategic partners and moves Russia may be taking to undermine those relationships. Over and above sensitive information about the Ukraine war, the leaked documents also contained information about Washington allies including Israel and South Korea.

The leaked information is reportedly damaging to all parties involved in the Ukraine war as well as future intelligence collection but it will take months before authorities fully understand the ramifications of this leak in terms of whether US intelligence loses access to key intelligence collection methods.

Authorities are working to validate the authenticity of the documents, but have found that at least some of the leaked papers have been crudely doctored, including at least one overstating American estimates of Ukrainian casualties and minimizing estimates of Russian troops killed.

Airman Teixeira was trained as a cyber transport systems specialist assigned to the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base. The job could entail such duties as keeping his unit’s communication networks running. According to an FBI special agent, Teixeria had security clearance for one of the highest levels of classification, specifically “top secret / sensitive compartmented information (TS / SCI).” At this time, however, we do not know what about Airman Teixeira’s job would require access to daily briefings about the war in Ukraine or CIA intelligence reports.

The incident prompted an immediate review of how national security secrets are shared on intranet systems and the implementation of new measures to secure and limit the distribution of sensitive information.

This incident, among the worst US intelligence leaks in a decade, clearly highlights the threat posed by insiders with authorized access to sensitive materials, whether or not he / she has an IT background and we should brace ourselves for new reports of additional leaks and even additional leakers.

Furthermore, this incident has raised serious questions about why a junior enlisted airman had access to classified information, including potentially damaging secrets, as well as why adequate safeguards were not in place to prevent the access and removal of said information. The most basic standard for safeguarding information should be what a person needs to know. As such, access to information must always be considered, at a minimum, on a need to know basis.  At this time, we do not know what about Airman Teixeira’s position required access to and knowledge of this sensitive information.  However, we can speculate that, given what we do know about his position, the information extended beyond what he needed to know.

Airman Teixeira began leaking documents several months ago to a video game discussion chat room in an online forum, unmonitored and completely undetected by the United States government.  In fact, the incident was only brought to the attention of the government when it was first reported by the media roughly 3 months after the first documents were reportedly posted. It is clear that there is no agency responsible for tracking classified document leaks and that sensitive information can be leaked on different platforms without attracting attention.

We assume that Airman Teixeira underwent proper vetting before he received his security clearance, commensurate with the sensitive nature of his job. However, we need to be asking ourselves whether he underwent periodic refresher vetting to ensure that he remained suitable for his position. We know that people change over time. Refresher vetting serves not only as a crucial means by which to detect persons with corrupt intentions but also as a deterrent for those considering anything unlawful or malicious.