BOSTON -  Jack Teixeira, a Massachusetts air national guardsman, appeared in federal court in Boston Friday. He was arrested Thursday after he was reportedly found to have leaked classified documents on social media. 


What You Need To Know

  • Jack Teixeira was arrested by the FBI on Thursday at his North Deighton home

  • He is 21 years old and a member of the air national guard in Massachusetts

  • Teixeira appeared in Federal Court on Friday in Boston

  • He will reappear in court on Wednesday

“The FBI should be commended for acting this rapidly to secure an arrest this quickly," said Glenn Sulmasy, a national security expert and president of Nichols College. "This is a very serious breach of national security. You cannot understand how damaging something like this is as a leak.”

Sulmasy said that the type of material that Teixeira allegedly posted on the internet was far beyond what he needed to know. He allegedly posted information about specific locations of Ukrainian troops on the ground, as well as information on foreign leaders.

Members of Massachusetts' congressional delegation expressed their concerns about the leak.

“Leaking classified material threatens all of our lives," said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-MA, in a statement. "It directly threatens the lives of the brave Americans who collect intelligence; it cuts off our means to collect vital intelligence in the future; it undermines our foreign policy; it undermines our allies; and it emboldens our adversaries. These things make every American less safe.”

Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-MA, is also concerned about the fact Teixeira was able to access information that he didn’t need. 

“The pentagon will need to explain how material of such sensitive nature was available to personnel who did not have need to know,” he said in a statement.

The information released was supposed to have among the highest level of clearance.

“This isn’t like having a little bit of information, don’t forget you have confidential, secret, top-secret, this is above all of that,” said Sulmasy. “What should be the background of someone having that access information you might have a clearance, but should you have access? “

Sulmasy suggested that the armed forces need to look deeper in to the backgrounds of people given a high level clearance and look into what they are posting online.