WASHINGTON (AP) — The large categorized paperwork leak by an Air Power service member earlier this 12 months was made worse by the intentional failure of a number of officers to take required motion on his suspicious conduct, the Air Power inspector common reported Monday.
Massachusetts Air Nationwide Guard member Jack Teixeira is accused of leaking extremely categorized navy paperwork on a social media platform.
In its investigation of the leaks, the Air Power inspector common discovered each safety gaps the place personnel had entry to categorized paperwork with out supervision and cases by which Airman 1st Class Teixeira was caught violating safety insurance policies however not one of the personnel who caught him took the actions obligatory in response.
“Primarily based on the preponderance of the proof gathered in the course of the investigation, three people within the unit who understood their responsibility to report particular info concerning A1C Teixeira’s intelligence-seeking and insider risk indicators to safety officers, deliberately failed to take action,” the inspector common discovered.
In response, the Air Power stated it took motion towards 15 individuals, starting from relieving personnel from their positions, together with command positions, to non-judicial punishment beneath Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Navy Justice.
Teixeira, who’s 21, has been behind bars since his April arrest on prices stemming from essentially the most consequential intelligence leak in years. He’s charged beneath the Espionage Act with unauthorized retention and transmission of categorized nationwide protection info. He has pleaded not responsible, and no trial date has been set. Prosecutors stated in a courtroom submitting final week that the 2 sides haven’t but engaged in “substantive” plea discussions.
The paperwork launched on social media revealed delicate U.S. intelligence on the Russia-Ukraine battle, the Center East and an array of different subjects.
Teixeira enlisted within the Air Nationwide Guard in 2019 and started round January sharing navy secrets and techniques with different Discord customers, authorities stated — first by typing out categorized paperwork after which sharing pictures of information that bore SECRET and TOP SECRET markings.
Teixeira labored as a cyber transport methods specialist, primarily an info know-how specialist chargeable for navy communications networks. As such, Teixeira was a part of a three-person crew that had unsupervised entry at night time to an open storage High Secret-Secret Compartmentalized facility to carry out upkeep inspections.
“At occasions, members had been required to carry out preventive upkeep inspections and different duties, which required people to be on their very own for hours, unsupervised in different elements of the ability,” the IG discovered. “Additional, no permission controls had been in place to observe print jobs, and there have been no enterprise guidelines for print merchandise. Any night time shift member had ample alternative to entry (categorized) websites and print a excessive quantity of merchandise with out supervision or detection.”
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Related Press author Alanna Durkin Richer contributed from Boston.