Leaked Pentagon docs reveal Taiwan unready for China strike: report

[Boats]

Leaked Pentagon docs reveal Taiwan unready for China strike: report
By: Mary Kay Linge & Mark Moore & Mathew Sedacca - 04-15-23 ~ 4.32 pm updated: https://nypost.com/2023/04/15/leaked...china-strike/#

The classified Pentagon documents stated that Taiwan officials question the ability to "accurately detect missile launches."
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File
Secret military documents reportedly included in the mass Discord leak posted by Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira reveal critical weaknesses in Taiwan’s air defenses.

The classified Pentagon assessments of the island nation’s military readiness state that Taiwan officials themselves question their ability to “accurately detect missile launches” from China, the Washington Post reported Saturday.

US analysts found that only half of Taiwan’s aircraft would be “fully mission capable” in the event of a Chinese attack — and suggested that Beijing could successfully control Taiwan’s airspace if it chose to invade.

Last week, three days of Chinese “combat readiness patrols” signaled a warning to independent Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.

Note: Here's what we know about Jack Teixeira and the leaked docs & Who is Teixeira?

A 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman, an enlisted member of the 102nd Intelligence Wing located at Joint Base Cape Cod.

Why was he arrested?

The arrest came after Teixeira was identified as a person of interest in the case, which was opened last week when some of the shared documents were discovered on Russian Telegram channels.

Reports indicate Teixeira was a prominent figure in the “Thug Shakers Central” Discord group, where the documents initially appeared.

What information is in the leaked documents?

The classified documents from the Department of Defense contained key information about America’s espionage efforts against Russia, as well as details about Ukraine’s military planning.

How were the documents leaked?

The classified pages were disseminated on the small Discord channel Thug Shaker Central, linked to fans of the YouTuber Oxide.

Learn more about the leaks and the channel Thug Shaker Central

Teixeira, 21, a low-level Air National Guard information technology specialist, is accused of posting hundreds of classified documents related to the Ukraine war and other sensitive military topics to a Discord channel with 20 to 30 members.

The social media site, popular among video-game players such as Teixeira, is cooperating with the investigation, Discord chief legal officer Clint Smith said Friday.

“This recent incident fundamentally represents a misuse of our platform and a violation of our platform rules,” Smith said.

Heavily armed federal agents arrested Teixeira at his mother’s home in North Dighton, Mass. on Thursday.

Meanwhile, one of former President Trump’s top national security aides said Saturday that Teixeira could not have acted alone — but is merely the patsy in a much wider intelligence breach.

“It’s just not possible” for Teixeira to have had access to such a highly sensitive trove, Kash Patel, Trump’s former deputy director of national intelligence, told Breitbart News.

“You can be the biggest IT person in [the Department of Defense], and you are still compartmented off of the actual information,” Patel explained.

Patel said he does not believe “for a single second” that “this guy — a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman — ran his operation alone.”

The documents also stated that only half of Taiwan’s aircraft would be “fully mission capable” in case of an attack from China.

EPA/RITCHIE B. TONGO

Instead, he said, the explosive revelations are likely part of “an Assange-style operation” — referring to the WikiLeaks founder who faces espionage charges for helping U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files.

“The way it was produced, the way it was put out there — pages, printed photographs taken, published online — that is a methodical way of releasing classified information illegally,” Patel said — calling Teixiera’s arrest “an extensive cover-up.”

Teixeira, who joined the Massachusetts Air National Guard in 2019, worked as a cyber transport systems journeyman with the 102nd Intelligence Wing, responsible for the upkeep of military communications hardware.

The spilling of some of the country’s most sensitive intelligence revealed that the US was secretly keeping tabs on allies like South Korea and Israel, and contained information about Russian troop strength and Ukraine’s military planning.

But Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on a diplomatic mission to Vietnam, said Saturday that the embarrassing leaks have not hampered cooperation between the US and its global allies and partners.

“We have engaged with our allies and partners since these leaks came out, and we have done so at high levels, and we have made clear our commitment to safeguarding intelligence and our commitment to our security partnerships,” the country’s top diplomat told reporters in Hanoi.

“To date, based on the conversations I’ve had, I have not, not heard anything that would affect our cooperation with allies and partners,” Blinken said, adding the investigation into the security breach was “taking its course.”

Book marks: China - Jack Teixeira - Taiwan - The Pentagon - 4/15/23
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Personal note: This kid is in for a rough time! That's a shame he should've known better!
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