Alleged Pentagon leaker's intelligence unit "not currently doing its mission"
The intelligence unit of the Massachusetts Air National Guard where alleged leaker Jack Teixeira worked "is not currently doing its mission," according to a Pentagon official.
One of the Air Force's real time intelligence centers, which takes in live feeds from surveillance aircraft around the world, has been taken offline. Similar intelligence units located around the U.S. will have to take up the slack.
The pause at the 102nd Intelligence Wing comes as the Air Force is directing additional reviews into how Teixeira was able to allegedly leak potentially hundreds of pages containing classified information about the military capabilities of both Russia and Ukraine, as well as military secrets about other countries.
The Air Force announced three efforts Tuesday — an inspector general review into Teixiera's unit and any factors associated with the leak to see what went wrong, a review of Air Force policies and a stand down across the force in the next 30 days to review security practices.
"There is a full-court press going on about this. We're all disturbed about it, and we're working very, very hard to get to the bottom of it and take corrective actions," Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told Congress on Tuesday.
Kendall and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee to testify about the budget but fielded several questions on the leak.
Brown told Congress there are protections in place to protect classified information, but "obviously, in this case, this process fell apart."
"We have an ongoing investigation, and we have a process of looking at accountability, not only from the criminal standpoint for the individual, but also as we look at the organization itself," Brown said.
Across the Defense Department, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has directed the under secretary of defense for intelligence and security to conduct a review of intelligence access, accountability and control procedures to prevent this kind of incident from happening again.
