Leaked Pentagon docs reveal Taiwan unready for China strike
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 documents, classified Pentagon assessments of the island nation’s readiness, state that Taiwan officials themselves question their ability to “accurately detect missile launches,” the Washington Post reported Saturday.
They also 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.
A separate assessment found that China’s recent military exercises near Taiwan — particularly their use of civilian ferryboats — have “eroded” the ability of US intelligence to pick up “abnormal activity” that could signal an imminent invasion.
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
Last week, three days of “combat readiness patrols” signaled a warning to independent Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory.
Teixeira, 21, a low-level Air National Guard information technology specialist, posted hundreds of classified documents related to the Ukraine war and other sensitive military topics to a Discord channel with 20 to 30 members.
Since Teixeira’s Thursday arrest, details from the document cache — including that US intelligence officials knew of as many as four other Chinese spy-balloon intrusions apart from the one that floated across American airspace earlier this year — have been slowly revealed.
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry issued a statement Saturday saying that its defense systems are “carefully constructed based on enemy threats.”
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