When sensitive information is leaked, it can reveal things the government was not supposed to know about. This is usually the result of a breach, which could be something as small as a lost laptop to an entire data storage system. It can also be the result of a whistleblower, if someone feels their agency is misusing or wasting money and wants to expose it.
A leak can be a huge problem, and a lot of people don’t understand what the rules are when it comes to classified information. People without the authority or prior knowledge that a document is classified aren’t allowed to share it, and it can be a crime.
In this case, 21-year-old Jack Teixeira was arrested for allegedly posting a massive amount of classified documents to an online group that was shared widely on the internet. The US has charged him with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal of classified materials from a secure location.
Several of the documents posted by Teixeira were classified and part of the Five Eyes sharing network, which includes the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. They include assessment reports about Iran’s missile programs that were reportedly authored by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency. Some of the other documents were alleged to be related to the Ukrainian military, including battalion sizes and readiness.
Immediately after a leak, it’s important to preserve all potential evidence. That means halting normal deletion cycles across email servers, cloud platforms and document repositories to prevent accidental overwriting. Investigators will then work to establish a ‘chain of custody,’ or the path by which the data moved from secure to public.