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Photo Illustration: Madeline MarshallThe detention hearing for Airman First Class Jack Teixeira , the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman charged with allegedly taking and sharing highly classified intelligence documents, has been postponed for two weeks. In a court filing Wednesday, the day originally scheduled for the hearing, Airman Teixeira’s lawyers said the government agreed to their request for “more time to address the issues presented by the government’s request for detention.”

Photo illustration: Madeline MarshallFederal prosecutors are expected to outline more of their evidence Wednesday against Airman First Class Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman charged with taking and sharing highly classified intelligence documents that exposed significant vulnerabilities in the way the U.S. protects some of its most closely held secrets. Airman Teixeira, 21 years old, is scheduled to appear in federal court in Boston for a detention hearing, where prosecutors are set to argue that he should remain detained while his criminal case proceeds. The Justice Department charged him Friday with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material, charges that combined carry a potential 15-year prison sentence upon conviction.

WASHINGTON—As the U.S. government scrambles to protect classified documents following a leak of highly classified material on social media, some officials are expressing concern the effort will go too far, curtailing legitimate access for those who depend on sensitive information to do their jobs. The arrest last week of Airman First Class Jack Teixeira on charges of disclosing classified information comes amid a continuing effort by the government, including the Pentagon, to narrow the distribution lists of some intelligence and even restrict access to some who previously received it.

☆ Pentagon Looking Into How Accused Leaker Accessed Top Secret Documents
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Nancy A. Youssef | Daniel Nasaw | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Federal authorities on Thursday arrested Jack Teixeira in Dighton, Mass., for the suspected unauthorized removal, handling and distribution of secret information, officials said. Mr. Teixeira, 21 years old, holds the rank of airman first class in an intelligence unit of the Massachusetts Air National Guard and is a junior Air Force communications specialist, according to his service record. His job title—cyber transport systems journeyman—gives no obvious hint why he would have access to the types of files that were leaked. He joined the Air Force National Guard in September 2019, according to his service record. Mr. Teixeira is expected to appear Friday in federal court in Massachusetts.

☆ Leaked Documents Likely Came From Air Guardsman at Fort Bragg, Officials Say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Nancy A. Youssef | Sadie Gurman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—Investigators believe the leak of purported highly classified documents on Ukraine and dozens of other subjects likely originated from an Air National Guardsman who was based at Fort Bragg at the time of the leak, U.S. officials said, and an arrest could be made as early as Thursday.

☆ Pentagon Document Leak: What We Know So Far and the Biggest Takeaways
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Nancy A. Youssef | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Federal agents arrested a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman in connection with a leak of purported highly classified documents surrounding the war in Ukraine and other topics. The arrest caps a fast-moving probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Pentagon and others to pinpoint the source of a leak of documents.

Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman, has been arrested in connection with a leak of purported highly classified documents on Ukraine and dozens of other subjects that has exposed the challenges of safeguarding sensitive U.S. information and tested ties with some of America’s closest allies. Federal agents took Mr. Teixeira into custody at his home in Dighton, Mass., on Thursday afternoon. Television footage showed armed personnel leading a male with red shorts and green shirt with his hands cuffed behind his back.

☆ Death of Soldier at Fort Hood Draws Senators’ Scrutiny
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Lindsay Wise | Nancy A. Youssef | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Evan GershkovichEvan Gershkovich is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, where he covers Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union. President Biden and news organizations around the world have joined the Journal in calling for Mr. Gershkovich’s immediate release. Mr. Gershkovich, the American son of Soviet-born Jewish exiles, grew up in New Jersey. Before joining the Journal in January 2022, Mr. Gershkovich was a reporter for Agence France-Presse and the Moscow Times. Find more information about Mr. Gershkovich here.

☆ The Pentagon’s Purported Classified-Document Leak: The Biggest Takeaways and Questions So Far
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Nancy A. Youssef | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/pentagon-leak-classified-intelligence-documents-takeaways-6dd576b8

A view of the Kremlin in central Moscow last week. A stream of Russians in recent months has been accused of espionage in places like Slovenia and Brazil. Then last week, Russia detained an American journalist, The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich , while he was on a reporting trip, and accused him of espionage—an allegation that the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny. Now, the fate of Mr. Gershkovich, the accused Russians or others could be decided in the recently revived, and coldly transactional, universe of international prisoner exchanges. The primary question is what form such a deal would take—and how difficult it would be to agree upon.

The Justice Department began its investigation on Friday. The U.S. pressed on Saturday to assess the damage of a widespread intelligence breach, as the Pentagon and the Justice Department seek answers to how dozens of images that purport to show highly classified documents on the war in Ukraine and other international matters surfaced online. Determining the source of the leak and its implications has dominated the attention of leadership at the Pentagon, defense officials said, as a wide-ranging internal government probe gathered steam over a U.S. holiday weekend.

☆ Pentagon Investigates More Social-Media Posts Purporting to Include Secret U.S. Documents
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Yaroslav Trofimov | Nancy A. Youssef | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Pentagon is investigating social-media posts that purport to reveal highly classified U.S. government documents on the war in Ukraine and other key international topics, in what could be one of the most dangerous intelligence breaches in decades. Well over 100 images, marked with “Top Secret” and other classifications indicating they represent highly sensitive U.S.-produced intelligence, were posted in the Discord message board of fans of the Minecraft computer game around March 1. While many of them were deleted recently, open-source intelligence researchers have managed to download more than 60 files.

☆ Ukraine Moves to Prevent Leaks After Purported Top-Secret U.S. Documents Appear Online
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Yaroslav Trofimov | Nancy A. Youssef | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Ukraine said Friday it would take new measures to prevent potential leaks of its war plans as the Pentagon investigates social-media posts that purport to reveal highly classified U.S. government documents on Kyiv’s preparations for a spring offensive. At least six images of documents, some of them marked “Top Secret,” were published on Thursday by pro-Kremlin war commentators on Telegram. Some of the images, which can only be viewed by those with authorized clearance, appeared Wednesday on the 4chan online-messaging board. At least one document was altered in a Russian Telegram post to lower estimates of Russian losses and inflate Ukrainian casualties.

When a hostile foreign nation or group releases an imprisoned U.S. citizen, the first American to welcome them home is typically Washington’s hostage deal maker in chief, Roger D. Carstens . The special presidential envoy for hostage affairs was on a tarmac Dec. 8 in the United Arab Emirates to meet Brittney Griner when she arrived on a Russian plane after almost 10 months in captivity. Mr. Carstens told the freed basketball star that he was there to escort her home on behalf of President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken , according to a senior Biden administration official.

WASHINGTON—Ukraine’s insatiable demand for artillery has for months outpaced Western forecasts, setting off a global hunt for more ammunition and forcing the U.S. to raid its stocks abroad to help Kyiv prepare for its counteroffensive later in the spring. With some U.S. allies unwilling or unable to supply enough ammunition for Ukraine, the U.S. military is pulling from its munition supplies in a number of locations, including in Israel, South Korea, Germany and Kuwait. These sites, known as prepositioned stocks, are where the U.S. stores everything from trucks to bandages to support American forces around the world.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. would continue to fly surveillance drones in international airspace and denounced the actions of Russian jet fighters that intercepted a U.S. drone and collided with it. In prepared remarks for a meeting of nations providing arms to Ukraine, Mr. Austin said the MQ-9 drone was “conducting routine operations” in international airspace Tuesday, when a pair of Russian jets “engaged in dangerous, reckless, and unprofessional practices.”

☆ Russian Jet Collides With U.S. Drone Over Black Sea
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Nancy A. Youssef | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A Russian Su-27 jet fighter flies over the Baltic Sea four years ago. U.S. forces describe the actions by a pair of Su-27 pilots as juvenile, but accidental. A Russian jet struck the propeller of a U.S. Reaper drone over the Black Sea, forcing U.S. forces to bring down the drone, the Pentagon said, one of the first direct military confrontations between the two nations’ forces since the war in Ukraine began more than a year ago. Before the collision, which occurred around 7 a.m. local time Tuesday, two Russian Su-27s “dumped fuel on and flew in front of the MQ-9 in a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner,” said the U.S. European Command in a statement. “This incident demonstrates a lack of competence in addition to being unsafe and unprofessional,” said the EUCOM, which is responsible for U.S. military operations in the region.

☆ Australia to Buy U.S. Nuclear-Powered Submarines in Naval Expansion
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Michael R. Gordon | Nancy A. Youssef | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Australia would buy five U.S. nuclear-powered submarines under a plan to be announced Monday. The U.S. will speed up Australia’s acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines by arranging for Canberra’s first few subs to be built in the U.S., according to people familiar with the still-confidential plan. The arrangement is part of a multifaceted plan to be announced Monday in San Diego at a meeting attended by President Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak .

☆ U.S. Assesses Ukrainian Jet-Fighter Pilots Ahead of Potential Training Effort
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Nancy A. Youssef | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—Two Ukrainian pilots are being assessed in the U.S. on how they operate jet fighters to prepare for a potential broader training effort, defense officials said. Ukraine has repeatedly asked Western allies to provide jet fighters, including American F-16s, to help it repel Russian forces which invaded a year ago. The U.S. has repeatedly played down that prospect and officials said the assessment of the two pilots wasn’t a sign of any change in strategic priorities. But Ukraine is vying to be a future customer for F-16s and the evaluation could potentially lay the groundwork for further training.

☆ U.S. to Expand Troop Presence in Taiwan for Training Against China Threat
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Nancy A. Youssef | Gordon Lubold | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Taiwanese military personnel trained at a base in Taoyuan, Taiwan, this week. The U.S. is working to help Taipei defend itself without provoking Beijing. WASHINGTON—The U.S. is markedly increasing the number of troops deployed to Taiwan, more than quadrupling the current number to bolster a training program for the island’s military amid a rising threat from China. The U.S. plans to deploy between 100 and 200 troops to the island in the coming months, up from roughly 30 there a year ago, according to U.S. officials. The larger force will expand a training program the Pentagon has taken pains not to publicize as the U.S. works to provide Taipei with the capabilities it needs to defend itself without provoking Beijing.

☆ Pentagon Spent At Least $1.5 Million on Missiles to Down Three High-Altitude Objects
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Nancy A. Youssef | Aruna Viswanatha | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The U.S. military said it now believes the three airborne objects were likely recreational balloons. The U.S. military spent at least $1.5 million to shoot down three airborne objects, which it now believes were likely recreational balloons, defense officials said Wednesday. That figure is only for the four AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles used to bring down the objects over Alaska, Canada’s Yukon territory and Lake Huron. It does not include the cost for Navy, Coast Guard, Alaska National Guard and Canadian forces to search for the debris, which likely will add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost, the officials said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Munich Security Conference. The Biden administration is considering releasing intelligence it believes shows that China is weighing whether to supply weapons to support Russia’s war in Ukraine, U.S. officials said. The discussions on public disclosure come ahead of Friday’s United Nations Security Council meeting marking one year since Russia invaded Ukraine. It follows a number of closed-door appeals to China—coordinated among North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies—that culminated in a formal warning delivered over the weekend in Munich to Wang Yi , China’s senior foreign-policy official, by a number of western officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly .

☆ Pentagon Official to Visit Taiwan, Risking New Strains With China
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Nancy A. Youssef | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A top Pentagon official on China policy will visit Taiwan in the days ahead, setting up a diplomatically sensitive trip amid already heightened U.S.-China tensions. U.S. officials described the coming visit by Michael Chase, deputy assistant secretary of defense for China, as a long-planned trip to a key U.S. partner in Asia. But it is likely to be seen as provocative by Beijing, which claims the self-ruled island as its own territory and bristles over visits from top American officials. The Financial Times first reported on the visit.

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