The U.S. Department of Defense said Monday that it would have findings within 45 days from its review about the recent leak of classified documents, as it presses to quickly evaluate how the breach took place.
"We're here to pull the facts, and that's what this review will do," Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters Monday.
She said the department “continues to work around the clock to better understand the scope and scale of these leaks."
When asked if there could still be more documents circulating online, Singh said, “There could be … we are still assessing that.”
She said the Defense Department had already taken action to limit the number of employees with access to classified information.
"We are culling through some of our distribution lists and who has access to certain information," Singh said, adding, "I can't give you exact numbers."
Last week, U.S. authorities charged Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, 21, of leaking the trove of highly classified documents online.
The documents, which were circulating on various social media sites for weeks, included sensitive information about Russia’s war in Ukraine as well as information about U.S. allies, including Israel, Turkey and South Korea.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters at the White House on Monday that the United States has not detected a breach of trust between Washington and its allies as a result of the information disclosed by the leaks.
Teixeira possessed a top-secret security clearance for his job as an IT specialist with the Air National Guard in the northeastern U.S. state of Massachusetts, according to a court affidavit released last week. Teixeria’s unit — the 102nd Intelligence Wing of the Massachusetts National Guard — was responsible for providing intelligence support to many units of the military.
U.S. media have reported that Teixeira allegedly shared classified documents with a group of young men who chatted regularly on Discord, a social media platform popular with gamers. The Washington Post reported that Teixeira first wrote down the classified information to share with the group, but when some members were not taking the documents seriously, he began taking photos of the material and posting them in the group.
Teixeira faces two criminal charges: unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information, and unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents. The first charge falls under the Espionage Act, a statute that the Justice Department has relied on to prosecute leaks of classified information.
If convicted of the charges, Teixeria faces up to 15 years in prison.
Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. Some information in this report came from Reuters.
