CNN
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Massachusetts Air Nationwide Guardsman Jack Teixeira, who in March pleaded guilty in a civilian court docket to willfully retaining and leaking categorized intelligence, is now dealing with prices in army court docket, the Air Pressure introduced.
Teixeira — who was arrested final April after allegedly sharing categorized intelligence on the social media platform Discord — is being charged with disobeying a direct order and obstructing justice underneath the Uniform Code of Army Justice, an Air Pressure spokesperson stated. The Air Pressure requested the brand new prices in opposition to Teixeira in Could and the fees had been formally referred on July 2.
The costs allege that Teixeira deliberately disobeyed an order telling him to “stop and desist” from accessing data not pertaining to his duties as a cyber programs journeyman within the Air Pressure Nationwide Guard.
CNN has beforehand reported that three inside Air Pressure memos revealed a number of situations wherein his management noticed and warned that he was inappropriately accessing categorized data.
The costs additionally say that between March 1, 2023, and April 13, 2023, Teixeira disposed “of an iPad, pc onerous drive, and mobile phone, with intent to hinder the due administration of justice within the case of himself,” and on April 7, 2023, directed one other particular person to “to delete Discord messages” despatched by himself, the Air Pressure spokesperson stated on Thursday.
Teixeira was arrested on April 14 final yr and charged underneath the Espionage Act. The paperwork shared by Teixeira on-line included a variety of categorized data, together with inside assessments of the Russia-Ukraine warfare and a doc discussing a “plot by a international adversary to focused United States forces overseas.”
CNN beforehand reported that Teixeira’s closing sentence is predicted to be determined by a federal decide in September. His court docket martial trial shall be held at Hanscom Air Pressure Base, Massachusetts, the Air Pressure spokesperson stated, however the date has but to be decided.
Rachel VanLandingham, a former US Air Pressure decide advocate and present regulation professor at Southwestern Regulation Faculty, informed CNN that whereas Teixeira ought to face punishment for the “damning” affect he had on nationwide safety, the court docket martial prices are “abuse of the whole system.”
“He’s already pleaded responsible in a US federal trial court docket to very, very severe espionage prices, and he’ll be sentenced accordingly,” she stated. “However why it feels they wish to go after him and squish him down some extra is emblematic of the abuse within the army justice system.”
Whereas technically the UCMJ prices don’t violate double jeopardy, which retains somebody from being charged twice for a similar crime, VanLandingham stated that in a “values-based” sense, “after all it does.”
“The Air Pressure was grossly negligent in how they dealt with this. He ought to by no means have been allowed the entry he was given” to categorized data, she stated. “They’re attempting to detract from their very own screw-ups and lack of applicable safety protocol.”
Greater than a dozen individuals — together with the commander of Teixeira’s unit, the 102nd Intelligence Wing — were disciplined within the fallout of the intelligence leak after an Air Pressure investigation discovered they “deliberately failed” to report considerations about Teixeira’s conduct.