Jack Teixeira: US Air Force punishes 15 officers over top secret leaks

Jack Teixeira faces 15 years in prison if he is convicted of leaking classified documents

Fifteen US Air National Guard officers have been punished for failing to stop a junior colleague from allegedly leaking classified documents online.

Jack Teixeira has been charged with six counts of retaining and transmitting classified information.

An Air Force report said that officers were "aware of his intelligence-seeking activities" and failed to stop him.

However, it also said none of his supervisors knew the full extent of Mr Teixeira's online activities.

Prosecutors say Mr Teixeira posted dozens of secret documents online in one of the biggest leaks of US intelligence material in years.

Mr Teixeira was 21 at the time of his arrest in April. He worked as a cyber defence operations journeyman, a relatively low-ranking job in the Air National Guard's 102nd Intelligence Wing.

He was based at the Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod, a little more than an hour south of Boston, Massachusetts.

Leaders in the unit were aware of up to four instances of "questionable activity" by Mr Teixeira involving his access to classified material, according to an Air Force Inspector General report that was made public on Monday.

Several officers knew of other incidents, the report said, but they did not report them through the proper channels, fearing that security officials would "overreact".

An indictment against Mr Teixeira said that his supervisors verbally warned him after he was seen making notes while looking at classified documents. He was warned again when he went to a briefing and posed specific questions based on classified intelligence about the subject being discussed.

The report also said that there was a lack of supervision during night shifts when a three-person crew worked overnight at the base. The primary responsibilities of the shift included answering phones and ensuring the heating and air conditioning systems were operating.

But "no permission controls were in place to monitor print jobs," the report said. Any night shift member could access classified documents "and print a high volume of products without supervision or detection".

The leaks have prompted the Pentagon to bolster its security procedures around top secret information.

The 15 officers who were punished hold ranks that range from staff sergeant - the lowest non-commissioned officer level - to colonel, a senior rank.

They received a variety of penalties, the Air Force said, but privacy laws prevent the military from disclosing lower-ranking officers' punishments, an Air Force spokesperson said.

The 102nd Intelligence Wing commander, Col Sean Riley, was relieved of his command of the unit, which has been taken "off mission" and its tasks given to other units.

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Mr Teixeira is accused of posting dozens of classified documents on Discord, a social platform popular with gamers, apparently to impress his online friends.

The leaked documents included detailed US assessments of the war in Ukraine along with operations to spy on US allies.

They also included information indicating how far Russia has been penetrated by US intelligence, along with material about a range of other countries and topics.

Mr Teixeira remains in jail awaiting trial and faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.