Why the leak of top-secret government documents could inspire similar leaks

The leak of U.S. military and intelligence documents by Jack Teixeira, a 21-year- old Air National Guardsman in Massachusetts, has raised significant concerns and questions about national security, foreign policy and the intelligence community.

Teixeira is awaiting a detention hearing on charges under the Espionage Act. PBS NewsHour digital anchor Nicole Ellis spoke with Scripps News National Security Correspondent Sasha Ingber about what we know about the case so far and where it goes from here.

Watch the conversation in the player above.

How and when were documents leaked?

Ingber said Teixeira’s digital footprint of leaked classified information dates back to 2019, which is also the same year he joined the Air National Guard and began working as a Cyber Transport Systems Journeyman, or IT specialist, Ingber said. Despite his lower rank, Teixeira’s work allowed him a top-secret security clearance and access to sensitive data. Using the pseudonym OG—Teixeira, he began transcribing whole paragraphs of classified documents at work and posting them on Discord, a social media platform primarily used by online gamers. But, “when he felt that it was possible he would be caught, he started printing these documents out and then bringing them home, where he then photographed them,” Ingber said.

READ MORE: Guardsman accused of leaking classified information charged under Espionage Act

According to Aric Toler, the CEO of Bellingcat, a Netherlands based investigative journalism group that helped find Teixeira’s original posts, Teixeira, shared around 300 classified documents in a small Discord channel “called Bear versus Pig. Bear, a reference to Russia, pig, a derogatory reference to Ukraine,” but his online peers didn’t initially think the documents were real, Ingber said. “One of them shared some documents in a different channel and then that spread to Telegram to 4Chan and ultimately, to Twitter,” Ingber said. It was then that the New York Times picked up the document leaks and then the search for the leaker, later to be identified as Teixeira, was on.

What are the risks of this information being shared?

While these findings may be alarming to the general public, Ingber said the leak may not significantly impact foreign policy. “We could certainly see some problems arise in the short term. But honestly, other countries know that they are being spied on. Everybody is doing it to each other,” she said.

But, Ingber said this, “could potentially expose humans on the ground who have been sharing critical information with the U.S. and partners, risking their lives to do so,” raising concerns for the intelligence community. “It could also potentially give the Russians information about some of the technology that the United States is using to gather information. Certainly the Russians, looking closely at these documents, will be looking for moles and will also do their best to jam the technology that the U.S. is using.”

How could these leaks influence others?

Teixeira’s actions don’t appear to have been politically or ideologically motivated, Ingber said, which sets him apart. “It seems that he is doing this for some sort of social mobility. And that really is a completely different breed of leaker that we are now seeing,” Ingber said.

She warned that the quest for online influence may lead others down the same path. “Sadly, one of the lessons might be that this man for months got away with sharing classified information online, and that might encourage other people who, for various reasons, want to share this information, might encourage them to do so, too.”