.In a court hearing in Boston, the US airman accused of disclosing secret intelligence and defense documents was formally charged.
Jack Teixeira, 21, appeared before a federal judge while being shackled and dressed in a prison uniform.
The defendant responded, "You too, Dad," to a person in the courtroom who shouted, "Love you, Jack."
Due to allegations of transmitting defense secrets without authorization, Mr. Teixeira may spend up to 15 years in prison.
He is also accused of taking and keeping secret materials without authorization.
For the first charge, the airman may spend up to 10 years behind bars, and for the second, up to 5 years.
Numerous documents that were released included sensitive information regarding US allies as well as US assessments of the war in Ukraine.
The leaks made Washington look bad and prompted new inquiries about protecting confidential material.
What can we infer from Jack Teixeira's charges?
What kind of penalties will he get?
What is known about the suspected US leaker
On Thursday, armed FBI officers detained Mr. Teixeira at his Massachusetts home.
The judge determined that the defendant is eligible for a public defender, or an attorney paid for by the government. for those who cannot afford legal bills in a criminal prosecution.
in a criminal trial for those without the means to pay for counsel..
A man in the courtroom reportedly shouted "Love you, Jack" as the session ended, according to CBS, the BBC's US news partner.
Despite without turning around, Mr. Teixeira replied, "You too, Dad," according to a CNN reporter who was present in the courtroom.
In a statement, US President Joe Biden praised law enforcement for taking "fast action" to look into the origin of the leaks. He claimed to have issued orders to the US military and intelligence to safeguard and restrict the release of any additional sensitive information.
High-level clearance
The exposed intelligence material first surfaced in a Discord chat group that Mr. Teixeira is accused of running and where users frequently discussed conflicts and global issues.
According to the affidavit FBI Special Agent Patrick Lueckenhoff submitted to the court, the suspect started uploading the stolen documents sometime in December.
According to the statement, the earliest disclosures consisted of textual passages, but in January, Mr. Teixeira switched to sharing pictures of actual documents.
Pentagon officials were not made aware of the leak until intelligence data was shared outside the chat room group, which led to a hunt for the perpetrator.
Mr. Teixeira was an IT specialist with the Massachusetts National Guard's intelligence division at the Otis Air National Guard Base in western Cape Cod..
The US Air Force's reserve component is known as the National Guard. Although they are not employed by the military full-time, they may be called upon for deployment.
The criminal complaint that was submitted to the Boston court states that Mr. Teixeira's official title was "cyber defense operations journeyman." He was an Airman First Class, which is a pretty junior job.
Mr. Teixeira "signed a lifelong binding non-disclosure agreement" in order to take his post, according to the document, and has held a "top secret" security clearance since 2021.
According to Mr. Luekenoff, the suspect "would have had to recognize that the unauthorized distribution of classified material may result in criminal prosecution."
The affidavit additionally stated that Mr. Teixeira used his government computer on April 6, the day that information about the documents was first made public, to look up the word "leak" in classified intelligence reports.
The prosecution claims that Mr. Teixeira looked up the term to determine if US intelligence had any knowledge of who was behind the leaks.