Pentagon leak suspect, 21, 'hinted at his future crimes' in eerie yearbook quote
The suspect in the Pentagon leak case made what could be interpreted as a spooky reference to disclosing classified documents in his high school yearbook, it has been revealed.
US airman Jack Teixeira, who could face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty of leaking confidential intelligence and defence documents, wrote some chilling words in the book at Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School, in Massachusetts.
“Actions speak louder than words,” he penned after graduating in 2020, although an expert in intelligence believes the 21-year-old must had had some help in getting his hands on such sensitive information.
Teixeira posted several highly classified military documents, including US assessments of the war in Ukraine as well as secrets about American allies.
The leaks have been a huge embarrassment for Washington and now Donald Trump ’s former deputy director of national intelligence, Kash Patel, thinks Teixeira cannot have been working alone and could just be a ‘patsy’ in a much wider intelligence breach.
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“You can be the biggest IT person in [the Department of Defense], and you are still compartmented off of the actual information,” he told Breitbart News.
“Almost never does an IT person need to know, as we say, the substance of the intelligence.
“Their job is to provide the secure information systems around it to protect any disclosures.’
“This is crazy sensitive stuff,” Patel said of the detailed data about Ukraine’s military planning that Teixeira is accused of posting online. “Ninety-nine percent of people who have a Top Secret/SCI clearance don’t have access to this information.”
“I think he’s definitely working with other people in DOD or the intel space to get this information out.”
Patel also suggested the leaks could instead be part of a WikiLeaks style operation.
Meanwhile, former classmates of Teixeira’s – who lived with his mother in North Dighton, Massachusetts – have described him as an oddball and obsessed with guns and war, and that his behaviour made them nervous.
Teixeira posted the top secret files on a site called Discord under his online user name ‘Jack the Dripper’ for months before the leak was uncovered. He worked as a junior cyber security specialist in the intelligence unit based at the Otis Air National Guard Base, in western Cape Cod.
Teixeira’s next hearing has been set for Wednesday, April 19, the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a statement.
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