Air Force suspends leadership for unit of suspected Pentagon document leaker

The Air Pressure suspended two leaders of suspected labeled doc leaker Jack Teixeira’s unit, it stated in a press release Wednesday, one week after the unit stopped performing its intelligence mission amid an investigation into the leaks.

The commander of the 102nd Intelligence Assist Squadron, a part of the Massachusetts Air Nationwide Guard wherein the 21-year-old Teixeira served, was suspended from his management place, as was the detachment commander overseeing administrative assist, the Air Pressure stated. The 2 officers have additionally misplaced their entry to labeled techniques and data.

Teixeira faces fees underneath the Espionage Act after allegedly posting labeled intelligence – together with delicate info on the warfare in Ukraine – to the social media platform Discord in a sequence of leaks that exposed the scope of US intelligence gathering on each its allies and adversaries. He’s anticipated to look in court docket Thursday for a detention listening to.

The suspensions are short-term pending completion of the Air Pressure’s Inspector Normal investigation into the leaked paperwork, and commanders are taking applicable actions as new info turns into out there as a part of the investigation, stated Ann Stefanek, a spokesperson for the Air Pressure.

Investigators from the inspector normal’s workplace arrived on the base on Tuesday, Stefanek stated.

“The commander of the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air Nationwide Guard Base, Massachusetts, has suspended the commander of the 102nd Intelligence Assist Squadron pending additional investigation into the unauthorized disclosure of labeled info,” Stefanek informed CNN.

“Moreover, the detachment commander overseeing administrative assist for Airmen on the unit mobilized for responsibility underneath Title 10 USC has additionally been suspended,” she added.

“Because of this each the squadron’s state Air Nationwide Guard operational commander and present federal orders administrative commander have been suspended pending completion of the Division of the Air Pressure Inspector Normal Investigation,” she stated. “Additionally, the Division of Air Pressure has briefly eliminated these people’ entry to labeled techniques and data.”

Final week, the Air Pressure introduced that the unit had briefly misplaced its intelligence mission as a part of a sequence of steps initiated by Air Pressure Secretary Frank Kendall following the disclosure of the leaks and the arrest of Teixeira. The intelligence mission was assigned to different organizations throughout the Air Pressure.

As well as, the Air Pressure inspector normal started trying on the unit to higher perceive what went unsuitable that led to the leaks of labeled info and the right way to forestall such a breach from taking place once more.