Jack Teixeirathe young man who was behind one of the largest leaks of Pentagon documents in the past decadewas formally charged this Thursday for the transfer of national defense information and extraction of classified information.

The Justice Department said in a statement that Teixeira, who He was a member of the National GuardHe, a reserve military corps, is charged with six counts. Last April he was indicted and this Thursday he was formally charged for those events.

He is charged with the preservation and dissemination of national defense information and the unauthorized removal and possession of secret documents or materials.

Arrested on April 13, Teixeira accessed the documents at the National Guard base where he worked, took them home and posted them on Discord. popular among video game fans. Thereafter, those documents were distributed through other social networkslike Telegram, and landed on the front pages of major newspapers around the world.

The punishment that awaits Jack Teixeira, the young man accused of leaking the Pentagon’s classified documents

Attorney General Merrick Garland noted in the statement that he shared them with users “whom he knew had no right to receive them. It is claimed that violated U.S. law and endangered national security.” Acting Massachusetts District Attorney Joshua Levy recalled that people who are given access to classified material have a duty to protect that information.

Most of the leaked information was covered the war in Ukraine and gave details of US and NATO plans to strengthen the Ukrainian offensive. In addition, it pointed out that the US may have been spying on some of its closest allies, such as Ukraine itself, South Korea and Israel.

Teixeira joined the National Guard in September 2019 and had been authorized to access top secret information since 2021.

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The Justice Department estimates he started save it and share it around January 2022. He spread that information in two ways: in paragraphs written through that platform, or with images of the documents in which you could read the classification of secret or top secret.

Each count of unauthorized withholding and disclosure of national defense information carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years, probation of up to three years and a fine of up to $250,000. The Justice Department specified that a federal judge will determine the sentence based on several legal factors, adding that the FBI is still investigating the case.

Some analysts compared its potential impact to that caused in 2013 by Edward Snowden when he exposed the scope of the massive espionage programs launched by the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks.