The Pentagon pictured from above. Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Defense.
Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman from Massachusetts, was arrested on April 13 for his role in leaking classified information over social media. For months, Teixeira shared U.S. intelligence on a Discord server – revealing stunning secrets about such topics as the war in Ukraine, Chinese weapons programs and American spy operations on allies. Much of the leaked information is recent – some of the documents are dated March of this year – and are heavily classified, with labels including ‘Top Secret’ and ‘Confidential’.
Overall, hundreds of documents have reportedly made their way around the internet – causing concern, anger and even denial within the international community. The South Korean government, for example, claims that documents detailing American eavesdropping on Korean politicians are false.
A major concern regarding the leak is that Russian leaders will use the information to develop a new strategy for the war in Ukraine. Some of the documents discuss the state of Ukrainian air defense systems, as well as troop casualties within both the Ukrainian and Russian militaries.
While the leaks have hampered American interests abroad, the Pentagon has sternly suggested that the international commitment to helping Ukraine remains strong.
TNL spoke with UAA professor John Schultz to contextualize the situation and provide insight for students wanting to investigate this topic and other pressing foreign policy issues.
Schultz said that it is important to understand that within a democracy the values of liberty and freedom are often caught in a struggle with the value of security which causes “tension.” This leak is strange in that Teixeira – unlike leakers of the past, such as Edward Snowden – did not seem to have the intention of disseminating information for the public’s benefit. Rather, it appears to have been for personal gain.
“Seemingly, the intentionality was different,” Schultz said. The information was meant for “a cohort of selected friends and individuals.”
When asked if the leak will affect American foreign policy moving forward, Schultz said that there will “certainly” be an effect but that it is unlikely to be significant – especially in terms of maintaining relations with our strongest allies.
Schultz said that when it comes to gathering intelligence on allies there is a “fundamental tension between secrecy and transparency.” The American government, like any other, has an interest in preserving national security and must therefore “evaluate” when a situation calls for actions such as espionage.
For students wanting to become more involved and educated on foreign policy – possibly to help them better understand these kinds of events – Schultz said that UAA is a great place to be. Academic programs such as Political Science are “a great way to take classes that wrestle with these questions that are teasing out these tensions of … what do we value? [And] what ought we do in the pursuit of those values?”
“There’s lots of opportunities for students to get involved, to learn more about what’s going on in the world outside of the classroom,” Schultz said. He pointed to the Alaska World Affairs Council as “a wonderful resource” for students to get involved and learn. He mentioned the Council’s hosting of an event on U.S. – China relations which TNL reported on earlier this year.
Schultz also said that the Consortium Library provides students with access to the journals Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy through the library’s website. He described Foreign Affairs as “one of the best resources that has a great balance between scholarship and expertise, coupled with readability and accessibility.”
Schultz encourages students to take advantage of their opportunities “to engage with these questions” during their time at UAA.
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