The Troubling Implications of a High-Level Security Clearance for Pentagon Leak Suspect

The 21-year-old junior enlisted airman, Jack Teixeira, who has been charged with leaking classified U.S. military and intelligence documents, had a high-level top secret clearance known as TS-SCI, raising questions about why he had access to such documents in his work as an IT specialist. While having a clearance is typical for Air Force personnel who provide IT support, access to highly classified documents is based on "need to know" status. The criminal complaint against Teixeira revealed that he searched for classified intelligence reporting for the word "leak" on his government computer, indicating his concern about the initial news reports that classified intelligence documents had begun to appear on Twitter and Telegram.