WASHINGTON — Sen. Lindsey Graham questioned why a low-ranking Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking secret intelligence had access to the information and demanded people lose their jobs over the security failure.
“I am stunned that somebody at that level could have so much access,” Graham, R-Ky., said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “Some people need to be fired over this.”
The U.S. charged 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, who holds a rank equivalent to an army private first class, with a massive disclosure of government secrets, an embarrassment that prompted President Joe Biden to clamp down on the spread of classified material.
Graham, a retired colonel who served in the Air Force Reserve and who has been a hawkish voice within the Republican Party, said the intelligence leak was a “major failure” and criticized conservative figures such as Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Fox News host Tucker Carlson who have praised Teixeira as an anti-war conservative.
“There is no justification for this,” he said. “And for any member of Congress to suggest it’s OK to leak classified information because you agree with the cause is terribly irresponsible and puts America in serious danger.”
Rep. Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican, said the investigation also should include an examination of military personnel supervising Teixeira and facilities where he worked.
“The other question is the leadership on the ground,” Mace said. “It’s clear that no one was watching” as Teixeira copied classified documents and took them home, she said on “Fox News Sunday.”
