Homeland Security: the fallout from Jack Teixeira's arrest

Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old Air National Guardsman arrested for leaking classified documents, has been charged with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents, charges that together carry a maximum of 15 years in prison. Teixeira made his first appearance before a federal judge in Boston on Friday morning.

After his arraignment, Teixeira exchanged a few words with what appeared to be family members. Someone sitting in the front row of the courtroom shouted, "I love you, Jack." The young man responded, "I love you too, Dad."

The arrest of a 21-year-old Air National Guard soldier for the most serious leak of classified documentation in decades is raising big questions about the security procedures used to protect classified intelligence material. Although Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that Jack Teixeira is being investigated by a federal judge for "alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information," more and more voices are demanding that senior management assume some responsibility for not protecting the information from being made public.

Declaración jurada Teixeira by VozMedia on Scribd

Senator and possible Republican Party candidate for the White House Tim Scott predicted in statements to Fox that the investigation to get "to the bottom of this mess" will be a "very painful, miserable journey.” The legislator said, “We're talking about imperiling likely American lives. We're talking about weakening our relationship with our allies, emboldening the strength of our adversaries and revealing plans about attacks and coordination for Ukraine and other allies."

"What general is going to lose their job?"

But most of all, Scott questioned how a guy like Teixeira could have access to such "sensitive information" which has caused a "massive, catastrophic occurrence that should never have happened." This was also echoed by former legislator Sean Duffy, who said that the blame should be placed upon the Pentagon's senior officials responsible for keeping these documents protected:

"The incompetence is stunning”

Former George W. Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen said that "the incompetence is stunning. ...the idea that a 21-year-old kid can expose sources and methods of how we spy, how we have penetrated the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, because apparently we've exposed the fact we know they have a new hypersonic missile that can reach the United States, that they exposed our penetration of the Russian Defense Ministry, that could affect the war in Ukraine. "

The columnist further noted that, "unlike Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, it wasn't ideological. It was some kid trying to show off to his friends in a gaming chat room and has literally affected global national security by doing so. How this happens is just beyond me." For conservative Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, the answer is obvious: Teixeira is a scapegoat for being "white, male, christian and antiwar."

More preparation, less woke ideology

Rep. Chip Roy, meanwhile, pointed to the Biden administration's obsession with indoctrinating soldiers with gender ideology and hosting drag shows as distracting the Pentagon from "maintaining military readiness (like shoring up our intel)." In a tweet, the lawmaker announced that he is leading "the fight to BLOCK federal funds from pushing woke LGBT ideology on the military."