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Dighton airman accused of leaking secret documents waives right to probable cause hearing

The criminal complaint against Jack Teixeira is photographed Friday, April 14, 2023. The Massachusetts Air National Guardsman appeared in court in Boston, accused in the leak of highly classified military documents. (Jon Elswick/AP)
The criminal complaint against Jack Teixeira is photographed Friday, April 14, 2023. The Massachusetts Air National Guardsman appeared in court in Boston, accused in the leak of highly classified military documents. (Jon Elswick/AP)

Update on April 19, 11:30 a.m.: During Wednesday's hearing, a judge confirmed Jack Teixeira waived his right to a probable cause hearing. No date has been set for a detention hearing yet.


The 21-year-old Dighton man suspected of leaking top secret intelligence documents is scheduled to appear in federal court in Boston Wednesday.

Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, has been held since he was arrested at his home on Thursday, after classified documents related to the war in Ukraine and other U.S. intelligence began surfacing on social media sites.

Teixeira had been scheduled for a detention hearing Wednesday. But his lawyers filed a motion asking for a two week delay so they had more time to prepare. Instead, at Wednesday’s hearing, Teixeira was expected to waive his right to a probable cause hearing.

He's facing charges of unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and the unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material.

Teixeira is accused of taking home documents from his work in the 102nd Intelligence Wing at the Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod, photographing and posting them in a small online chat group hosted on Discord. From there, the documents were shared on more public channels and attracted international attention.

Teixeira may have taken more documents than were shared online, an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit filed in court. "There is good cause to believe that additional, highly sensitive documents containing classified U.S. national defense information will be found" at Teixeira's home, the affidavit states.

Teixeira has not yet entered a plea. As of last week, he was represented by a federal public defender. If found guilty, Teixeira faces up to 15 years in prison.

The intelligence leak is believed to be the largest in a decade and has spurred sharp criticism from lawmakers and others for the government's failure to secure sensitive records.

This article was originally published on April 18, 2023.

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Ally Jarmanning Senior Reporter
Ally is a senior reporter focused on criminal justice and police accountability.

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