The case of a US Air National Guardsman accused of leaking a trove of military secrets online may not necessarily signal a systemic security problem within the military, the Pentagon said on Thursday, as it dodged questions about the case.
"I think it's important not necessarily to take the actions of one individual and somehow paint a picture that that indicates a systemic breakdown," Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, told a news briefing.
Prosecutors said in their detention memo late on Wednesday that the US Air National Guardsman, 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, started posting classified information on social media around December 2022 and used his government computer to research mass shootings. The case is raising tough questions about oversight of the Pentagon's classified systems and military personnel with top security clearances.