Jim Garamone at the DOD News offers the below piece:
The U.S. government is taking the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information very seriously and is working with interagency partners and the intelligence community "to better understand the scope, scale and impact of these leaks," Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said today.
Even
as Ryder was speaking in the Pentagon briefing room, U.S. Attorney General
Merrick Garland announced that the FBI had arrested Jack Teixeira, an airman in
the Massachusetts Air National Guard, "in connection with an investigation
into alleged unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified
national defense information."
Ryder
said DOD officials continue to review a variety of factors in an effort to
safeguard classified materials. DOD already has stringent guidelines in place
for safeguarding classified and sensitive information. "This was a
deliberate criminal act, a violation of those guidelines," he said.
"I think it's important understand that we will continue to do everything
we can to ensure that the people who have a need to know when it comes to this
kind of information have access to that."
The
press secretary said there have been daily meetings with the defense secretary
and the senior DOD leadership team to assess the scope and impact of these
disclosures. They are also discussing mitigation measures. "I will tell
you that these discussions are very focused, very deliberate and very measured
… in terms of ensuring that we're doing the right things, while not impeding or
impacting our ability to do our important missions worldwide," he said.
"Frankly, we're continuing to conduct our operations and provide people
with the information they need, without missing a beat."
Just because documents appear in the media or on a website or in a chat or as an attachment does not mean they have been declassified, DOD officials said. These documents remain classified and should be treated as such. Even though these documents may be in the media, service members and DOD employees must not read or download them.
"Just because classified information may be posted online
or elsewhere does not mean it has been declassified by a classification
authority," Ryder said. "We're just not going to discuss or confirm
classified information due to the potential impact on national security, as
well as the safety and security of our personnel and those of our allies and
our partners.
"And for that reason, we will continue to encourage those of you who are reporting this story to take these latter factors into account, and to consider the potential consequences of posting potentially sensitive documents or information online or elsewhere."
Lloyd Austin, the Secretary of Defense, put out the below statement:
“I want to commend the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for their swift arrest in connection with this investigation. I pledge the full support and cooperation of the Department of Defense to the DOJ’s investigation.
The Department of Defense, in close partnership with the
Intelligence Community and our interagency partners, will continue to review
the national security implications of this unauthorized disclosure. I want
to thank the men and women of the Department’s Disclosures Task Force who have
been working around the clock to assess and mitigate any damage done by these
disclosures.
As Secretary of Defense, I will also not hesitate to take any
additional measures necessary to safeguard our nation’s secrets. Accordingly, I
am directing the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security to
conduct a review of our intelligence access, accountability and control
procedures within the Department to inform our efforts to prevent this kind of
incident from happening again.
Finally, I want to underscore that every U.S. service member,
DoD civilian and contractor with access to classified information has a solemn
legal and moral obligation to safeguard it and to report any suspicious
activity or behavior.”
Note: Above is a photo of the suspected Pentagon leaker, Jack Teixeira, an Air National Guardsman.
No comments:
Post a Comment