The sprawling military base on Cape Cod where Airman Jack Teixeira allegedly stole classified intelligence is home to a 24/7 intelligence operation that is theoretically a highly secure government facility but one where nobody noticed top secret military papers slip out the door.
Such facilities typically operate at all hours with people rotating on and off shifts, sorting through intelligence as it floods in from all over the globe, according to current and former military personnel familiar with centers similar to the one where Teixeira worked.
They’re hard to penetrate, sources tell CNN, but can also be hard to police from within.
“When someone who is cleared and has the access decides they want to do something like that, short of draconian monitoring of people, we’re never going to be able to stop it,” said a current US service member who handles classified military intelligence.
Another former US official told CNN that, while all classified systems “have multiple levels of risk controls,” a “determined insider will find the weak points over time.”
As FBI and Pentagon officials piece together how a junior enlisted airman allegedly smuggled classified intelligence documents off a secure air base, the leak has revealed what defense and intelligence sources say are glaring weaknesses in how the Pentagon safeguards its most sensitive secrets.
For all the attention and resources paid to keeping classified intelligence out of the hands of foreign adversaries, the case of Teixeira, a 21-year-old computer specialist in the Massachusetts Air National Guard, demonstrates the acute threat posed by insiders among the thousands of people with top secret clearances.
From his low-level position in an intelligence unit at Otis Air National Guard Base, sources familiar with military intelligence protocols tell CNN…
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