How was a 21-year-old gamer able to leak a mountain of major Pentagon secrets?

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April 14, 2023 View online 1/ How was a 21-year-old gamer able to leak a mountain of major Pentagon secrets? Handcuffed and with his legs in shackles, Jack Douglas Teixeira glanced nervously around a crowded Boston courtroom on Friday morning.   The 21-year-old Massachusetts National Guard airman whispered "yes" when informed of his rights as a criminal defendant, according to CNN, showing no hint of the swagger of his online persona OG.   Federal prosecutors allege that the low-level IT worker, while caught up in the braggadocio culture of online gaming, shared hundreds of classified documents on a Discord chat server in the biggest leak of US intelligence data in a decade.   His top secret security clearance afforded him access to top-secret reports about the whereabouts and movements of high-ranking political leaders and tactical updates on the military forces of friends and foes alike.   US military officials were blindsided by the spread of top secret information and did not become aware until last week that secrets had for months been spreading online, leaving the Pentagon scrambling to try to work out the source of the leak.   2/ Bob Lee murder suspect smiles at family in first court appearance A lawyer for murder-accused Nima Momeni said 'what occurred, or didn't occur, will come out over time'. 3/ Abortion advocates and providers brace for Supreme Court decision in major drug case Clinics, drugmakers, legal groups and patients nervously await the court's ruling on the most widely used abortion drug in the US. 4/ El Chapo's sons among 28 cartel members charged by Justice Department Four 'Chapitos' charged in major fentanyl-trafficking conpriracy that has flooded the US with the deadly drug. 5/ Pro-Trump ad attacks 'pudding fingers' Ron DeSantis Ex-president has launched a series of attacks as the Florida Governor is expected to announce his campaign for the White House. THE BIG QUESTION What do we know about the murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee? High-profile tech entrepreneur Bob Lee was stabbed to death outside a luxury apartment building in San Francisco in the early hours of 4 April. The 43-year-old was found at 2.35am outside a luxury high rise apartment on the 300 block of Main St, near Rincon Hill and the Bay Bridge, with life-threatening stab wounds, the San Francisco Police Department said in a statement.  The tech executive was treated at the scene by first responders before being rushed to hospital where he died from his injuries, police said. Police arrested fellow tech executive Nima Momeni on 13 April in connection with the killing and he was booked into the San Francisco Sheriff's Jail. The reported arrest has yet to be officially confirmed by the San Francisco Police Department. Read the full story £99 £20 for 1 year ✓ Full access to Premium news analysis ✓ Advert-free reading across web and app ✓ The Independent Daily Edition newspaper ✓ Puzzles, virtual event tickets and more SUBSCRIBE NOW WATCH / Moment snorkeler bitten by 220lb shark off Maldives coast NUMBER OF THE DAY 125,000 – Taylor Swift has donated over 125,000 meals to a food bank in Florida, before starting her three concerts in Tampa over the weekend. QUOTE OF THE DAY "It's possibly one of the most important cases for our democracy. I can't believe how stupid he was to have actually filed it." – Michael Cohen has suggested he will file a countersuit against Donald Trump, who he said should have listened to lawyers who told him that doing so would be "a mistake". 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