The Real Scandal Behind the Pentagon Leaks

[mystery-ak]

The Real Scandal Behind the Pentagon Leaks
By Jack Shafer 04/11/2023 03:07 PM EDT

Jack Shafer is Politico’s senior media writer.

A deep secret, like a glass of water, can be easily controlled and contained. But when you build vast structures to hold them — a national security apparatus in the case of secrets and canyon-spanning dams when it comes to water — the pressures can exceed thousands of pounds per square inch. Unless adequately monitored and maintained, secrets and water can breach their restraints and flood everything downhill for miles.

The Pentagon just suffered such a dramatic breach as upward of 100 documents leaked. These files contained a grab-bag of national security secrets including about the conduct of the war in Ukraine; U.S. success in penetrating the Russian war machine; insights on the clandestine maneuverings of Israel and South Korea; hints about a previously unknown satellite surveillance technology; the attempted shoot-down of a British spy plane by the Russians; a pending arms deal between Egypt and Russia and one between Turkish contacts and the Wagner group; a Russian effort to hack Canadian gas fields; and intelligence sources and methods, all of which flowed onto online sites, drenching the Pentagon in embarrassment and endangering secret missions around the world.

As national security disasters go, the Pentagon leaks were complete. But as great a scandal as the secrets deluge might be, the greater scandal is how lax the Pentagon appears to be with such monumentally confidential information that it could be purloined and posted on freeform internet sites 4Chan and Discord. Squawking from Congress has ensued, of course, and the Pentagon has muttered about how “serious” the damage is. There is talk that some of the documents have been altered to exaggerate the number of Russian dead. But the government is mostly ostriching the calamity right now. President Joe Biden has been silent on the issue. And on Monday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, counseled the press to look away. Declining to confirm the provenance of the documents, Kirby said, “It has no business — if you don’t mind me saying — on the front pages of newspapers or on television. It is not intended for public consumption, and it should not be out there.”

more
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/04/11/scandal-behind-pentagon-leaks-00091438

[Smokin Joe]

Is this a smokescreen for more egregious releases of classified information performed as part of the Biden bid'ness empire?

[Right_in_Virginia]

Jack Poso
@JackPosobiec

So are we just going to overlook the fact that the leaks show Biden authorized US troops on the ground in Ukraine and then lied about it?

5:05 PM · Apr 12, 2023

[Right_in_Virginia]

Bow TiedRanger
@BowTiedRanger

Not all heroes wear capes

Jack Poso 🇺🇸
@JackPosobiec

Military industrial complex losing it that all their Ukraine lies were exposed by a 21 year old gamer

3:52 PM · Apr 13, 2023

[Right_in_Virginia]

Charlie Kirk
@charliekirk11

Say what you will about the Ukraine leaks, but a 21-year-old intel analyst just exposed Joe Biden and the entire woke military industrial complex as a propaganda riddled fraud.

LIARS!

7:26 PM · Apr 13, 2023

[mountaineer]

How on earth did a Massachusetts Air National Guardsmen have access to such records? I find it hard to believe any guardsmen or reservist can just, with a few keystrokes, get into international military records. Crazy.

[mystery-ak]

Tucker Carlson: The government is lying to you

Fox News host Tucker Carlson gives his take on the leak of classified government documents on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'

[Right_in_Virginia]

Charlie Kirk
@charliekirk11

How did a 20 something Air National Guardsman get his hands on that much sensitive, highly-classified information?

There's either much more to this story or the US Military is far more incompetent and careless than we realized.

2:51 PM · Apr 13, 2023

[Right_in_Virginia]

Michael Tracey
@mtracey

Look at the questions that were asked by journalists at the Pentagon press briefing today. They're all about demanding answers for how the government plans to improve its ability to conceal newsworthy information from the public.



4:40 PM · Apr 13, 2023

[Right_in_Virginia]

Michael Tracey
@mtracey

Just a few items confirmed by the leaked docs:

- Zelensky ordering attacks inside Russia
- Presence of US/NATO special forces in Ukraine
- US spying on top Ukraine officials
- Ukraine attacking Belarus

But everyone's ENRAGED the government is no longer concealing these things

8:18 PM · Apr 13, 2023

[Right_in_Virginia]

Glenn Greenwald
@ggreenwald

I cannot think of any event that shines more compelling and vivid light on the real function of the largest media corporations than how they helped find the leaker and demand the FBI arrest him.

Tonight's @SystemUpdate_episode examined all of this:

9:12 PM · Apr 13, 2023

Video (Forward to 6:00)

Servants of Power:


https://rumble.com/embed/v2fgkfq/?pub=4

[Kamaji]

How 21-year-old National Guardsman Jack Teixeira could get sensitive Ukraine docs

By Caitlin Doornbos
April 13, 2023

WASHINGTON – Before the FBI announced it had arrested the suspected leaker of dozens of highly sensitive Ukraine war documents – some of which were created to brief the highest levels of the Pentagon – few would have suspected a 21-year-old National Guardsman as the potential culprit.

The FBI nabbed Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira at his mother’s home Thursday after he was implicated in the biggest national security breach in at least 10 years.

The junior airman is accused of uploading troves of secret and top secret documents to Discord, a social messaging platform for gamers, from which they were spread across several websites.

An airman 1st class, Teixeira held the lowest petty officer rank the Air Force grants enlisted troops.

His job – a cyber transport systems journeyman – would have had him working not in intelligence analysis, but with IT infrastructure.

So how could such a young, low-ranking troop have gotten access to so many critical secrets?

There are several possible explanations:

The Pentagon regularly issues security clearances to troops as young as 18.
Some service members require security clearances as soon as they join the military, Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Thursday.

*  *  *

Cyber transport systems journeymen can require higher clearance levels
Though officials have not said whether Teixeira had a security clearance, his job as a cyber transport systems journeymen (CTSJ) may have required him to work with and protect sensitive communication channels.

*  *  *

His unit may have required access to foreign intelligence
Though it’s unclear why a cyber transport systems journeymen would have the need to know highly sensitive intelligence, it’s possible Teixeira’s work with the Air National Guard’s 102nd Intelligence Wing required him to have access to the sensitive channels, if not to the actual intelligence shared within.

*  *  *

The military runs on the backs of young people
About two-thirds of US service members are under the age of 30, and most of that group is under 25 – meaning the Pentagon is simply more likely to grant security clearances to personnel barely old enough to legally drink.

*  *  *

Source:  https://nypost.com/2023/04/13/how-21-year-old-national-guardsman-jack-teixeira-could-get-sensitive-ukraine-docs/

[Maj. Bill Martin]

How on earth did a Massachusetts Air National Guardsmen have access to such records? I find it hard to believe any guardsmen or reservist can just, with a few keystrokes, get into international military records. Crazy.

He's an IT guy responsible for maintaining the system on which that information is stored.  He's not supposed to review/read the actual data itself, but he almost necessarily had the technical ability to do so.

If you think about it, it's a rather scary scenario because IT people are always going to have that kind of access, and it would be extraordinarily difficult for non-technical people to figure out that they are abusing it.

[catfish1957]

He's an IT guy responsible for maintaining the system on which that information is stored.  He's not supposed to review/read the actual data itself, but he almost necessarily had the technical ability to do so.

If you think about it, it's a rather scary scenario because IT people are always going to have that kind of access, and it would be extraordinarily difficult for non-technical people to figure out that they are abusing it.

I am so ambivalent on this matter, as part of me wants to throw him under the jail for the damage that he did, but OTOH, I feel so sorry for the kid who basically ruined his life for a little attention from friends. His motives weren't sinsiter, but end results were.

I seriously doubt any of us didn't do dumb stuff when we were 21.  I know I did.   I think just as complict, is the Intelligence Officer who allowed a kid to put himself in this position.

[Kamaji]

I am so ambivalent on this matter, as part of me wants to throw him under the jail for the damage that he did, but OTOH, I feel so sorry for the kid who basically ruined his life for a little attention from friends. His motives weren't sinsiter, but end results were.

I seriously doubt any of us didn't do dumb stuff when we were 21.  I know I did.   I think just as complict, is the Intelligence Officer who allowed a kid to put himself in this position.

Maybe so, but what counted as "dumb stuff" would be things like tp-ing a neighborhood, or shooting up street lights and street signs in the middle of the night, not violating your clearly sworn duty to the United States and revealing extremely sensitive information.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Michael Tracey
@mtracey

Just a few items confirmed by the leaked docs:

- Zelensky ordering attacks inside Russia
- Presence of US/NATO special forces in Ukraine
- US spying on top Ukraine officials
- Ukraine attacking Belarus

But everyone's ENRAGED the government is no longer concealing these things

8:18 PM · Apr 13, 2023

None of that is a big surprise

1) We already know that Ukraine has struck within Russia a few times.  That was openly known, and the Kerch bridge is just one example of that.

2)  That shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone either.  The real issue is if they were conducting actual combat missions, which is still very unlikely.  It was already known that last year that there were very limited numbers of U.S. military personnel working with Ukrainian military leadership in Kyiv to wargame out certain of the counterattack scenarios, including the big one around Kharkiv.  We also have at least one general in Ukraine whose job it is to coordinate and monitor U.S. aid.  Pretty sure he'd need a security detail.

3)  This one is actually kind of funny.  "US spying on Ukrainian Officials."  Hasn't the pro-Putin crowd been complaining massively about Ukrainian corruption?  Demanding audits of aid to ensure that money isn't being misspent, that weapons are actually getting where they are supposed to be going, etc.?  The only way you can do what they are demanding is by having some personnel in-country who are watching those officials, tracking the aid, etc..  Yet, the same crown that has been trying to cut off Ukrainian aid because of corruption is now trying to make a big deal out of efforts to limit that corruption.

4)  Not sure exactly what those documents show, but my guess is that some pro-Ukrainian militia, or perhaps some Ukrainian special forces, have engaged in sabotage against Russian troops/equipment in Belarus.  Again, perfectly legitimate even if you don't want it publicized.

[catfish1957]

Maybe so, but what counted as "dumb stuff" would be things like tp-ing a neighborhood, or shooting up street lights and street signs in the middle of the night, not violating your clearly sworn duty to the United States and revealing extremely sensitive information.

And is why I stated the earlier part of my POV first.  His dumb little stunt ruined his life.  It has to be that way, because we can not make exceptions for that "dumb stuff"

[Kamaji]

And is why I stated the earlier part of my POV first.  His dumb little stunt ruined his life.  It has to be that way, because we can not make exceptions for that "dumb stuff"

Agreed.  I didn't read your message as really arguing the other way. 

The bigger picture is, I think, that the U.S. government needs to build out its IT support infrastructure and personnel in such a way that there are a sufficient number of senior technicians available to handle the really secret components, so that juniors like this guy can be left to cut their teeth on the less than massively sensitive intelligence-related equipment until they're mature enough to be trusted with more sensitive information.

[Maj. Bill Martin]

Maybe so, but what counted as "dumb stuff" would be things like tp-ing a neighborhood, or shooting up street lights and street signs in the middle of the night, not violating your clearly sworn duty to the United States and revealing extremely sensitive information.

Completely agree with this.

19 years old I was in the Naval Academy, and this is something that would have horrified all of us.  I've never liked the "young people do stupid stuff" excuse because it is usually applied to something much worse than any of us ever did.  Don't we all mock the mother crying about how their little boy just made a little "mistake" when he committed an armed robbery of that convenience store"

He was absolutely plenty old enough to know right from wrong.  He had to go through the proctological pain of getting a TS/SCI clearance, and would have gone through massive training on security and the proper handling of classified information.   He nevertheless consciously decided to violate all of that.

And it wasn't that he had just one lapse in judgment that he quickly regretted.   He apparently did this with 250 or so documents over an extended period of time.  It was a considered, deliberate course of conduct, not a single, impulsive act.  And he must be made an example of so that the fear of God is put into anyone else who ever considers doing anything like this.

[catfish1957]

Agreed.  I didn't read your message as really arguing the other way. 

The bigger picture is, I think, that the U.S. government needs to build out its IT support infrastructure and personnel in such a way that there are a sufficient number of senior technicians available to handle the really secret components, so that juniors like this guy can be left to cut their teeth on the less than massively sensitive intelligence-related equipment until they're mature enough to be trusted with more sensitive information.

Agree 100%.    I just hope the Intelligence Officer(s) involved into developing access systems are held to account too

[Kamaji]

Agree 100%.    I just hope the Intelligence Officer(s) involved into developing access systems are held to account too

[catfish1957]

Completely agree with this.

19 years old I was in the Naval Academy, and this is something that would have horrified all of us.  I've never liked the "young people do stupid stuff" excuse because it is usually applied to something much worse than any of us ever did.  Don't we all mock the mother crying about how their little boy just made a little "mistake" when he committed an armed robbery of that convenience store"

When I was in College, our dorm was known as lovingly as  the  "Animal House".  While I fully agree with your POV, there in that enviornment and mindset in that 18-20 y.o's that creates situations where "one-up"menship and outdoing the last stunt becomes the norm.  I pesonally never crossed those lines, but had friends that did, usually after a few too many.

Fortunately their lives weren't ruined, but they had hell to pay for a couple of years.   That's the part of me that houses a certain level of sympathy for the kid.

[Bigun]

He's an IT guy responsible for maintaining the system on which that information is stored.  He's not supposed to review/read the actual data itself, but he almost necessarily had the technical ability to do so.

If you think about it, it's a rather scary scenario because IT people are always going to have that kind of access, and it would be extraordinarily difficult for non-technical people to figure out that they are abusing it.

What happened to "need to know"?  In my day that was the key to everything and it was rigidly enforced.

[catfish1957]

What happened to "need to know"?  In my day that was the key to everything and it was rigidly enforced.

And isn't everything carefully and methodically tiered on that "need to know" basis?  I hope things haven't changed that badlyl

[Maj. Bill Martin]

And isn't everything carefully and methodically tiered on that "need to know" basis?  I hope things haven't changed that badlyl

@catfish1957 @Bigun

There likely isn't any need at all for him to know the content of the documents, but there is a need for him to have unfettered access to the system on which all those documents are stored so he can maintain the network.  And there likely isn't a way to give him the necessary access to the system without him also having access to the contents of the system.  That's why, as a computer tech, he needed the clearance that he had. 

To put it differently, suppose you give your computer to a computer tech to update some hardware, which requires him to have the administrative password to your computer.  Now, does that guy have any need to look at the contents of your actual documents, etc.?  No.  But the mere fact that he has to get access to your laptop means that he is going to have access to your documents.  That's the nature of what IT does, and it happens in companies all the time.

So that's the problem.  I imagine this is going to make IT access a bigger issue, but it is going to be a very difficult problem to solve.