The Pentagon Leaks: How a Discord Mod Threatened US National Security

Margaret Small/AP

There has been another massive leak of classified government documents, and this time it's from a junior officer in the Massachusetts Air National Guard. At 21 years old, Jack Douglas Teixeira has single-handedly become the center of a vast Pentagon data leak that has cost the United States significant damage to its national security and international reputation. Teixeira was a cyber transport systems specialist and was given Top Secret clearance as well as sensitive compartmentalized access, otherwise known as SCI, to highly classified documents. Some of these documents were released on the social messaging platform Discord, where they would eventually spread around the world.

Discord is primarily used by gamers to communicate with each other and this is where, over the course of several months, Teixeira would distribute classified documents to a server he administered called Thug Shaker Central. The server was filled with teenagers who had a shared love of video games, memes, and held discussions on politics. Teixeira allegedly printed the documents at his work site and brought them home where he would take pictures in order to avoid raising suspicion. The information Teixeira disclosed included several documents detailing Ukrainian battle maps and data the U.S. had garnered about the Russian war machine. The documents about Russia in particular had critical and extremely confidential information on the level and breadth of surveillance the U.S. has been able to conduct on the Russians. Information on specific troop movements and defenses was also among the documents leaked as well as data on U.S. spy operations in countries such as Israel and South Korea. Overall, incredibly confidential intelligence that was vital for U.S. operations was exposed to the world.

How will Teixeira be prosecuted?

Teixeira’s official criminal complaint reveals he was charged under two counts of the 1917 Espionage Act. The charges were the unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and the unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material which together result in a sentence of up to 25 years if convicted. The law guarantees that any unauthorized holding and disclosure of government data pertaining to national defense is subject to punishment as it will assist enemies and cause harm. Ultimately, Teixeira will face severe consequences as a result of his actions and be labeled as a traitor in the eyes of the U.S. government for the rest of his life.

Is Teixeira a whistleblower? 

The magnitude of Teixeira’s leaks has been likened to Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden who were both also charged under the Espionage Act. Both Manning and Snowden worked on behalf of the U.S. government and held positions in information technology. Manning was an army intelligence analyst serving in Iraq when she revealed hundreds of military records to Wikileaks, a major whistleblowing platform, containing evidence of thousands of civilian deaths in the Middle East that were previously unreported by the US government. Edward Snowden worked for the NSA as a contractor where he had access to sensitive documents which detailed information on the NSA’s worldwide surveillance programs which he later sent to The Guardian and The Washington Post. 

The huge difference that sets apart Teixeira from individuals like Snowden and Manning is that they are classified as whistleblowers, whereas Teixeira is not. A whistleblower is an individual who discloses information usually about an organization they are a member of that highlights its wrongdoings. However, according to a member of the group named Vahki, Teixeira’s primary goal was to impress members of the group and inform them of current events. He was in no way shape or form a whistleblower as he did not want the information leaked to the public but to remain on the server. It also seems that Teixeira had no ill will against the U.S. government and did not work with any foreign parties. His method of leaking information was not as deliberate as Snowden and Manning and lacked extensive planning and organization. These facts alone would exclude him from having whistleblower status.

However, this has not stopped people from coming to Teixeira’s defense. Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has praised Teixeira’s actions and has publicly defended him, saying he should be protected as a whistleblower. Rep Greene tweeted, “Jake Teixeira is white, male, Christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy of the Biden regime. And he told the truth about troops being on the ground in Ukraine and a lot more.” She then began saying how Teixeira was not the true enemy but President Joe Biden was, as she is opposed to his administration's efforts to send aid to Ukraine. However, most government representatives did not share the same sentiments and called out Rep. Greene’s statements.

Government Reaction and Possible Solutions

There has been a movement since the 9/11 terrorist attacks between bipartisan members of the Senate in response to the security of high-level information. Most recently, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas have been working on a set of measures that will include a complete overhaul of the classification system and security clearance issues. There has been a decades-long concern about who has access to top secret information as top security clearances have been given to thousands of U.S. employees. Recently the Department of Homeland Security has actually implemented measures to combat leaks from occurring in its own agencies by calling for the reassessment of those in their employ who have access to classified materials. In a memo released on May 15, the DHS will “review and validate” personnel who have access to sensitive material they do not necessarily need to be able to perform their duties. This shows a step into the right direction for U.S. government agencies who wish to avoid another breach in their informational security.

The Future of U.S. Intelligence Security

This is not the first time the U.S. government has been placed in this position. As the days of traditional espionage are over, using technological methods has been the favored and easiest choice for retrieving and disclosing information. If intelligence agencies want to have a more guaranteed safeguard for sensitive information they must accept a widespread cross-agency update on classification clearances. This way there will be less chance of a similar leak from occurring again. They must also come up with more sophisticated solutions that are deeply intertwined with today's online culture. For example, the Biden administration is already looking into increased surveillance on chatrooms and social media platforms like Discord. Discord has been put under a microscope by intelligence agencies as agents have been roaming servers and monitoring suspicious behavior and removing more classified documents in front of the site. However, this will likely cause an uproar about the rights of privacy and unlawful surveillance that U.S. officials are most likely aware of.

Overall there is no sure way of preventing leaks today. Technology will continue to advance as well as means of data sharing. Governments around the world must prepare themselves for the future and utilize the appropriate tools to combat potential breaches of security.