DIGITAL BLIND SPOT
Time|May 22 - 29, 2023 (Double Issue)
The U.S. government's security-clearance process is struggling to keep up online
VERA BERGENGRUEN
DIGITAL BLIND SPOT

IN NOVEMBER 2020, JACK TEIXEIRA WROTE A letter to the local police chief asking him to reconsider allowing him to own guns. The Dighton, Mass., police had denied the 18-year-old’s two previous requests for a firearms license, citing an incident when Teixeira was suspended for alleged violent and racial threats, including comments about guns at school.

This time, Teixeira’s pleas worked. As a newly minted member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, he had recently received a top-secret security clearance. “The investigation process was extremely thorough,” he wrote to the police chief, arguing that the U.S. government had deemed him qualified to become “a person that now has the national trust to safeguard classified information.”

That trust turned out to be misplaced. In April, Teixeira was arrested and charged with posting classified military documents online in the most damaging leak of U.S. intelligence in a decade, revealing sensitive information about the war in Ukraine and complicating relations with U.S. allies. Federal investigators also found that he had continued to regularly post “about violence and murder” in online forums, researched mass shootings, amassed an “arsenal” of weapons in his home, and asked for advice on how to turn an SUV into an “assassination van.”

This story is from the May 22 - 29, 2023 (Double Issue) edition of Time.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the May 22 - 29, 2023 (Double Issue) edition of Time.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM TIMEView All
How Trump Won
Time

How Trump Won

THE FORMER PRESIDENT'S RE-ELECTION IS THE NEXT STEP IN A POLITICAL CAREER UNLIKE ANY OTHER IN AMERICAN HISTORY

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 25, 2024
Zak Brown The McLaren Racing CEO on Formula One in the U.S., his team's chase for a championship, and the future propulsion of the automobile
Time

Zak Brown The McLaren Racing CEO on Formula One in the U.S., his team's chase for a championship, and the future propulsion of the automobile

The McLaren F1 team is in the running for its first Formula One constructors' championship since 1998. What's that like? I'm kind of living on the edge of my seat. That's why sport is always going to be one of the most engaging forms of entertainment for people around the world.

time-read
2 mins  |
November 25, 2024
Say Nothing speaks volumes
Time

Say Nothing speaks volumes

IN 1972, AT THE BLOODY HEIGHT OF the Troubles, home invaders abducted a widowed mother of 10 named Jean McConville from her Belfast apartment. Her children never saw her alive again.

time-read
3 mins  |
November 25, 2024
Portrait of the artist in his ninth decade
Time

Portrait of the artist in his ninth decade

AS A CURATOR AT THE PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART, Eleanor Nairne is very particular about how an artwork should be placed. \"I always say that you have to ask the work if it's sat comfortably,\" she says.

time-read
5 mins  |
November 25, 2024
No rest for the songs of Wicked
Time

No rest for the songs of Wicked

THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST HAS BEEN A FIXTURE in American culture for nearly 125 years. After coming to life in 1900 with L. Frank Baum's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, she rose to prominence onscreen in 1939, portrayed by Margaret Hamilton as a sinister old lady intent on ruining an innocent girl's wish to go home.

time-read
5 mins  |
November 25, 2024
SENTIMENTAL VALUE
Time

SENTIMENTAL VALUE

With Here, Robert Zemeckis stays true to his unlikely blend of new technologies and old-fashioned storytelling

time-read
6 mins  |
November 25, 2024
TIME 100 CLIMATE
Time

TIME 100 CLIMATE

These are the 100 most influential leaders driving business climate action

time-read
10 mins  |
November 25, 2024
BABY TALK
Time

BABY TALK

UNSURE ABOUT HAVING KIDS? THERAPIST MERLE BOMBARDIERI CAN HELP YOU FIGURE IT OUT

time-read
10 mins  |
November 25, 2024
The many horrors of the Pelicot rape trial
Time

The many horrors of the Pelicot rape trial

THE TRIAL OF DOMINIQUE PELICOT, THE MAN IN THE South of France who pleaded guilty in September to charges of secretly drugging his wife of 50 years, Gisele, and, over the course of about a decade, filming dozens of men as they had sex with her while she was sedated, would have been disturbing enough just as the story of an epically vile husband.

time-read
5 mins  |
November 25, 2024
Health Matters
Time

Health Matters

COVID-19 MAY NOT BE A PUBLIChealth emergency anymore, but you still need your yearly shot. In fact, it seems to peak about twice a year: once during the traditional respiratory-disease season in the fall and winter, and once during summer.

time-read
3 mins  |
November 25, 2024