Jack Teixeira has the title of “cyber transport system specialist”, which means that he was responsible for military communication systems. He had a higher security rating because he worked to protect the communication systems from attack, states a person within the armed forces for AP.
Experts both within and outside the armed forces have for some time pointed out the problem with classified intelligence information reaching a large number of employees in the military.
The New York Times estimates that thousands if not tens of thousands of people have the same security clearance as the one arrested. With it, they can see protected sites within the Pentagon and other intelligence services, but also daily intelligence briefings and detailed analyzes of the world around them.
– It is quite clear that too many people have access to too much top secret information, more than they need, says Evelyn Farkas, a foreign policy analyst who worked in former President Barack Obama’s government, to The New York Times.
Changed after September eleventh
According to American media, the problem stems from extensive rule changes introduced after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Intelligence agencies then began to actively share more classified information with each other, according to Glen Gerstell, former general counsel at the US National Security Agency (NSA).
The original idea was good, he tells The New York Times. But it has gotten out of hand.
– We have gone overboard and made it so convenient and easy for a wide range of people to have access, precisely because we never again want to end up in a situation where we could have prevented something if we had only shared certain information.
Another problem that is raised is that relatively junior people are given great responsibility in the military early on. Teixeira was a corporal in the Massachusetts National Guard.
Hear intelligence expert Joakim von Braun list three security flaws in the US defense in the clip above.