The Air Force on Tuesday stripped a Massachusetts Air National Guard unit of its intelligence mission after a lone airman there was accused of leaking probably a whole bunch of categorised army paperwork, together with materials concerning the state of Ukraine’s ongoing struggle towards Russia and U.S. assessments of Taiwan’s potential to face up to an assault by China.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall additionally ordered the service’s inspector normal to analyze “overall compliance with policy, procedures, and standards” on the 102nd Intelligence Wing, primarily based in Cape Cod.
“The 102nd Intelligence Wing is not currently performing its assigned intelligence mission. The mission has been temporarily reassigned to other organizations within the Air Force,” Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek mentioned in a press release.
Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira, 21, had been assigned to the unit when he was arrested Friday and charged with unauthorized removing and retention of categorised materials. He is anticipated to make one other look on Wednesday in federal courtroom in Boston.
According to its web site, the mission of the 102nd Intelligence Wing is to “provide worldwide, precision intelligence, and command and control, along with trained and experienced airmen for expeditionary combat support and homeland security.”
Airman Teixeira is accused of leaking a whole bunch of delicate army and intelligence paperwork on a personal chatroom for avid gamers on the Discord social media website, creating political embarrassment and safety complications for the Biden administration with allies and adversaries alike. Every unit within the Air Force will conduct a security-focused “stand-down” inside the subsequent 30 days, Mr. Kendall mentioned in a memo to the power.
“The focus of the stand-down will be to reassess our security posture and procedures, validate the need to know for each person’s access, and emphasize to all Airmen and Guardians the responsibility we are entrusted with,” he mentioned.
Mr. Kendall mentioned commanders are liable for safeguarding nationwide safety data inside their items and making certain their personnel are correctly educated in safety procedures.
“We must be continually alert for personnel who should not have access or who do not possess the need-to-know for specific classified information. Enforcing the need-to-know requirement is a chain-of-command responsibility,” he mentioned.
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