What America’s Dumbest Leaker Revealed

Earlier this week, I noted that the usual response to a massive leak of classified information — enacting more restrictions upon who gets to see what intelligence, and explicitly or implicitly discouraging the sharing of information from one agency to another — inevitably leads to “stovepiping.” In fact, the Pentagon has already begun enacting new limits on who within its ranks receives its highly classified daily intelligence briefing. When critical information gets stovepiped, the U.S. government’s response to all kinds of threats from terrorists to hostile regimes gets slower and less effective.

And yet, upon learning about the details of this most recent leak . . . stovepipe away, spooks, because this sounds ridiculous:

As a newly minted member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard returned home from training, his mother took to her flower shop’s Facebook page to express pride in his accomplishments.

“Jack is on his way home today, tech school complete, ready to start his career in the Air National Guard!” said the post, dated June 3, 2021. It was accompanied by a photograph of a patriotic-themed balloon tied to a mailbox and emblazoned, “Welcome home!”

Patriotic zeal appeared common around Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira, 21, who had followed in the footsteps of numerous family members to join the military. Teixeira, slim and boyish in photographs taken in his blue dress uniform, had been assigned to manage and troubleshoot computers and communications systems for the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base, according to the Air Force. . . .

While Teixeira was relatively inexperienced in the military, he had access to highly classified military intelligence through a Defense Department computer network known as the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System, said a U.S. official familiar with the matter. The system would have allowed Teixeira to read and potentially print classified documents, though there are guidelines to handle those in accordance with the law.