US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered an internal review of security practices at the Pentagon on Thursday, following one of the biggest leaks of classified documents in a decade.
The alleged author of the leaked documents, which contain information mainly about the war in Ukraine, is 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, who was arrested Thursday in Massachusetts.
As an initial reaction, Austin welcomed the swift arrest of the suspect by the FBI and said he was determined to offer his full support and cooperation in the investigation.
At the same time, the Defense Minister announced that he had directed the Undersecretary for Intelligence and Security to review the “access, accountability and control” practices of intelligence services within the department to “prevent such incidents from happening again”.
“I will not hesitate to take the necessary additional measures to protect our nation’s secrets,” Lloyd said in a statement carried by EFE, according to Agerpres.
Unprecedented information leak
The FBI arrested the alleged author of the leaks, Jack Teixeira, on Thursday in North Titan, Massachusetts.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that FBI agents arrested Teixeira “without incident” in the afternoon and that he will appear before a federal judge in Massachusetts to face charges. Public, and will be asked to plead guilty
US authorities have not yet released details of how the leaks occurred, but The Washington Post contacted an acquaintance of Teixeira’s who said he posted the documents because he wanted to impress other teenagers he chatted with on the Discord online games platform.
According to the release, Teixeira accessed the documents at the National Guard base where he worked, took them home and posted them on Discord, a site popular with video game fans.
Later, these documents were circulated on other social networks such as Telegram and reached the front pages of major newspapers around the world.
Most of the leaked documents relate to the war in Ukraine and provide details of US and NATO plans to bolster the Ukrainian offensive.
In addition, information suggests that Washington may have spied on its close allies Ukraine, South Korea and Israel, EFE notes.
Publisher: BP
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