Air Guard unit to resume intel mission paused after Discord leaks

A Massachusetts Air National Guard unit will resume its intelligence mission that was suspended after one of its airmen leaked highly classified military documents last year, the Air Force said Friday.

The 102nd Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group will again provide analysis to combatant commands worldwide on June 1, following approval by the head of Air Combat Command, which oversees intelligence units, according to Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek.

Military prosecutors seek court-martial for Discord leaker

The group’s mission was reassigned to other organizations within the Air Force as federal investigators probed Airman 1st Class Jack Teixeira’s unauthorized disclosure of classified information over the course of several months in what became one of the largest national security breaches in recent history.

Teixeira, who in March pleaded guilty to collecting documents about the war in Ukraine and other national security secrets from intelligence briefings and posting them on the social media platform Discord in or around 2022 through his arrest in early 2023, is scheduled to be sentenced in Boston’s federal court in September, according to the Associated Press. He has agreed to a prison sentence that could last nearly 17 years.

Teixeira, who worked as an information technology specialist with the 102nd Intelligence Support Squadron at Otis Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts, also faces charges within the military justice system.

Results of an Air Force investigation released in December found that Teixeira’s superiors repeatedly directed him to stop seeking out classified intelligence but did not properly report suspicious incidents involving the airman. Fifteen people were disciplined in connection with the leak, including removal from command.

The intel group’s mission was allowed to be reinstated following an Air Combat Command-led recertification process that was authorized “after a new organizational structure was implemented to enhance oversight of [the group’s] operations,” Stefanek said.

“The inspection teams, with participation from members of the headquarters staff, evaluated the remaining open deficiencies,” and sampled security procedures and culture across the wing, she added.