Pentagon to change security policies following classified documents leak: Report

Washington, July 6 (IANS) The Pentagon is set to change its security policies after dozens of classified files were published online in April, a media report said on Thursday.

According to a senior defence officials, the results of a 45-day review of Pentagon policies and procedures, ordered by Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in the wake of the leak, suggested the need to increase oversight for those trusted with classified national security information, the BBC reported.

The new measures include the appointment of officers to control the level of access to top secret data and installing systems to detect electronic devices.

Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old former US air national guardsman, has been charged under the Espionage Act for allegedly posting the sensitive material online.

He has however, denied the charge and is currently awaiting trial.

According to information, Teixeira enlisted in the Massachusetts Air National Guard in 2019. His job title is Cyber Transport Systems journeyman, and he has been promoted to the junior rank of Airman 1st Class.

Teixeira is the leader of a private online chat group where the classified documents -- numbering more than 100 pages -- first appeared in January.

From that point on, the material was widely circulated on a number of social media platforms, undetected by the government until early April.

Teixeira was granted Top Secret security clearance in 2021 and was said to have begun posting classified information online since December 2022, according to an affidavit submitted by investigators.

The trove of highly sensitive documents included details about how the US spies on friends and foes as well as intelligence on the Russia-Ukraine war.

The classified files also focused on defence and security issues in the Middle East as well as in the Indo-Pacific region

The documents -- some of which officials say may have been altered -- first appeared on online platforms such as Twitter, 4chan and Telegram, as well as on a Discord server for the video game Minecraft.

In the wake of the leak, Ukraine had to alter some of its military plans.

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