Accused Pentagon leaker back in court Wednesday

The Air National Guardsman accused of leaking highly classified Pentagon documents is due in Boston federal court Wednesday.

Why it matters: Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old from North Dighton, is allegedly at the center of a leak that revealed U.S. efforts to spy on Ukraine’s government, Russia and allies Israel and South Korea.

Catch up fast: Authorities believe Teixeira leaked documents to a Discord server that focused on war, guns and racist memes, per the Washington Post.

• Members of the server told the New York Times that Teixeira saw himself as an unofficial leader of the group and wanted to teach members "about actual war.”
• Teixeira was arrested last week and charged with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material. He did not enter a formal plea during his arraignment on Friday.

The latest: Teixeira had been assigned a federal defender for his detention hearing at 11am Wednesday in Boston federal court.

Reality check: Thousands of troops and government civilians have access to top secret materials, including young, inexperienced workers, because of the sheer size of intelligence information that needs to be processed, per the Times.

• For his job as a cyber defense operations journeyman, Teixeira had to sign a lifetime non-disclosure agreement that states he could face criminal charges for sharing classified information, per the affidavit.

Of note: When seeking permission to search homes tied to Teixeira, FBI Special Agent Victoria Horne wrote, “there is reason to believe that additional classified information is currently being stored in an unsecure manner,” per MassLive.