Air Force suspends two leaders of alleged Pentagon leaker’s unit
Mike Brest
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The U.S. Air Force has temporarily suspended the two leaders of the alleged leaker Jack Teixeria‘s unit.
The commander of the 102nd Intelligence Support Squadron and the detachment commander overseeing administrative support have both been temporarily suspended from their leadership positions and have temporarily lost access to classified systems and information pending further investigation, Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokeswoman, told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday.
AIR FORCE UNIT WITH ALLEGED LEAKER LOSES INTELLIGENCE MISSION AS INSPECTOR GENERAL INVESTIGATES
This is the first known disciplinary action taken in the wake of the breach allegedly perpetrated by the 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman who has been accused of posting hundreds of classified documents online through a private Discord channel of about two dozen like-minded and similarly aged people whom he supposedly was trying to impress. He allegedly began transcribing classified information in December and then started taking photos of classified documents instead a month later, according to the arresting affidavit.
There is the possibility that additional people will face disciplinary action.
“This means that both the squadron’s state Air National Guard operational commander and current federal orders administrative commander have been suspended pending completion of the Department of the Air Force Inspector General Investigation. Also, the Department of Air Force has temporarily removed these individuals’ access to classified systems and information,” Stefanek said. “Commanders are taking appropriate action as information becomes available. All suspensions are temporary pending further investigation.”
Teixeira, who will appear in court on Thursday for a detention hearing in Worcester, Massachusetts, was charged earlier this month with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material.
Earlier this month, the 102nd Intelligence Wing had its assigned intelligence mission suspended, and Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall directed the Air Force inspector general to investigate the unit as well.
“I’ve tasked our inspector general to go look at the unit and anything associated with this leak that could have gone wrong from the point of view of implementing our policies to see what things allowed this to happen,” Kendall said during a Senate subcommittee hearing on defense appropriations last week. “We’re turning on a complete review of our policies themselves within the staff to make sure our policies are adequate. And that will be illuminated by what we learned about what happened in this incident.”
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Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has also directed Ronald Moultrie, undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security, to lead the review of the department’s policy on classified information. He has 45 days to submit his recommendations to the secretary, and that deadline will occur near June 1.
The documents he released rocked the U.S. intelligence community as news outlets reported on the contents of the documents that were not meant for public consumption. Many provided snapshots of the status of the war in Ukraine, while others revealed the extent of the U.S. intelligence community’s spying on allies and adversaries alike.