Report: Alleged Pentagon Leaker May Have Shared Intel from Start of Russia-Ukraine Conflict

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Facts

  • Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of disseminating dozens of classified US military documents, may have begun circulating secret documents much earlier — and to a wider audience — than previously known, according to a report in the New York Times on Friday.1
  • Teixeira had previously been accused of sharing the documents on Discord, a platform popular with gamers, to a group of around 50 members — before others reposted them on other sites — earlier this year. However, the Times report suggests documents were disseminated to a roughly 600-member group just days after the Russia-Ukraine conflict started in February 2022.1
  • The 21-year-old has been charged with two violations of the Espionage Act — each carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment. He has yet to enter a plea.2
  • Meanwhile, a Russian court on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Kiril Budanov, head of Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate. He was accused of orchestrating the attack on the Kerch Bridge — the land and rail bridge connecting Crimea to Russia, built after Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014. It was temporarily taken out of action after a truck packed with explosives destroyed part of the bridge in October last year.3
  • A Moscow court also issued an arrest warrant for Christo Grozev, a Bulgarian journalist with the investigative unit Bellingcat. Last July, Russia's Federal Security Service accused Grozev of planning an attempt, with the help of Ukrainian intelligence, to entice Russian fighter jet pilots to defect with their planes. Grozev acknowledged the plot but said he was documenting it as a filmmaker, rejecting that he was a participant.4
  • Meanwhile, charges were also brought against Dmitry Kicha — the deputy head of a testing lab of a Russian arms manufacturer — for allegedly planning to participate in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine against Russia. He was arrested, held at the Lefortovo prison in Moscow, and charged with high treason.5

Sources: 1New York Post, 2Guardian, 3Euro Weekly News, 4Yahoo News, and 5Teller Report.

Narratives

  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by US News & World Report. US national security agencies are doing everything they can to minimize the damage from the Pentagon leaks and prevent such a breach from happening again, including further restricting access to sensitive documents in the future. A leak of this type is unlikely to reoccur.
  • Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Boston Herald. It was time for a review of security policies and procedures long before this incident occurred. The damage has now been done, and the episode only serves to highlight how the government has fallen short of protecting its most sensitive secrets.

Predictions