The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

How Did He Get Those Secrets?

Posted on | April 15, 2023 | 1 Comment

Ed Morrissey points out that nobody seems to know how or why a 21-year-old Air National Guard member would have access to all those leaked documents:

Jack Teixeira served in the 102nd Intelligence Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, based on Cape Cod. What would the MANG “need to know” about Mossad communications, Russian and Ukrainian military operations, and diplomat communications? The former chief of Massachusetts Homeland Security, Juliette Kayyem, doesn’t have an explanation for it either:

Unless it is deploying under federal orders, the Massachusetts Air National Guard’s job is to protect the commonwealth. Communications of the leaders of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service and discussions among members of South Korea’s National Security Council on whether to sell ammunition that could end up in Ukraine have no obvious relevance to the suspect’s work, intelligence analysts say.
“The Pentagon’s notion of who should have access to what seems very broad, based on what we know now” about the case, said Ms. Kayyem, now a lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School.

(Hat-tip: Instapundit.)

In comments on a previous post, Dianna Deeley raised the idea that Teixeira is a “fall guy,” but I don’t want to get into conspiracy theories, even though Ed Morrissey — definitely not a tinfoil hat type — delves into speculation that these documents could have gotten into Teixeira’s hands via some kind of complex spy operation: “Did he get them from within American systems? Or did an outside source provide the documents to Teixeira, and if so, for what purpose?” All of which speculation violates Occam’s Razor, because the most obvious explanation is that Teixeira’s job in a military intelligence unit involved using some kind of government computer network where he applied his skills to access classified files that were not properly secured. In other words, Teixeira took advantage of poor opsec at the Pentagon. Speaking of Dianna Deeley, she will join us tonight — 7 p.m. ET — on The Other Podcast, where I’m sure our co-host John Hoge will regale us with tales of his experience in Army intelligence during the Vietnam War. Don’t miss it!



 

 

Category: Military

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One Response to “How Did He Get Those Secrets?”

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