WASHINGTON — On an Air National Guard base in Cape Cod, Mass., greater than 1,200 navy service members and civilians keep one of many largest assist techniques for Pentagon drone missions world wide.
One of the employees was Airman First Class Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old accused of posting top-secret navy studies on-line.
Why such a younger junior-ranking service member on Cape Cod had entry to delicate intelligence, together with battlefield updates on the battle in Ukraine, has to do with the huge enlargement in navy drone operations within the post-9/11 wars that was made potential by higher satellite tv for pc communication networks. It can also be the results of a dramatic reorganization within the Air National Guard practically 20 years in the past that left small, far-flung air bases in want of recent obligations. The one on Cape Cod and lots of others grew to become intelligence outfits.
His arrest and subsequent Justice Department disclosures shined a light-weight on a little-known Air Force mission that started within the Nineteen Nineties and grew quickly, ultimately spreading to the bottom on Cape Cod. Called the Distributed Common Ground System, it’s a huge laptop community that handles the immense quantities of information generated by surveillance drones, spy satellites and different sensors — data that intelligence analysts pore by way of and move alongside to troops on the bottom.
Usually known as D.C.G.S., it carries top-secret data, and dealing on it requires an equal safety clearance.
The system is now a worldwide community, however in line with the Air Force it began small within the mid-Nineteen Nineties at simply three Air Force bases — Langley in Virginia, Beale in California and Osan in South Korea — and expanded within the early 2000s because the U.S. navy positioned extra communication satellites in house and demand for airborne surveillance surged.
In 2001, in line with Pentagon management, the U.S. navy had about 200 drones in service. In the years that adopted, commanders in Afghanistan and later in Iraq needed extra of them. Many extra.
The community quickly expanded to 2 extra bases: Ramstein, in Germany, in early 2003 and Hickam, in Honolulu, in late 2004, Air Force paperwork say.
According to 2 retired Air Force intelligence officers with direct expertise within the system, a key choice by Congress at the moment freed up a big labor pool to serve at new websites.
In 2005, the Pentagon’s Base Realignment and Closure fee made suggestions that affected many of the Air National Guard’s aviation items, with 14 of them dropping their flying mission, the Government Accountability Office reported. The transfer left hundreds of air guardsmen with out jobs, the officers mentioned, talking on the situation of anonymity due to their persevering with work for firms that do business with the federal authorities.
One of these items was the 102nd Fighter Wing at a base referred to as Otis on Cape Cod.
Men and ladies from that Air National Guard wing and different former flying items started coaching to work on the Distributed Common Ground System, studying to run its computer systems and analyze intelligence from spy planes and the ever-increasing numbers of drones flying in fight missions abroad, the retired officers mentioned.
In a speech to the Air War College in 2008, Robert M. Gates, then the secretary of protection, mentioned the variety of unmanned plane in service with the U.S. navy had elevated to greater than 5,000.
Stations for the community had been quickly established at Air National Guard bases in Indiana and at Otis, the place Jack Teixeira’s stepfather made the transition from the 102nd Fighter Wing to a publish on the newly christened 102nd Intelligence Wing.
Today, there are 27 D.C.G.S. stations within the United States and two international nations, in line with Air Force paperwork. But the unique 5 are the busiest, working nonstop year-round, the retired officers mentioned. Each of these websites is supported by a corresponding Air National Guard unit.
The unit in Germany is presently in nice demand as a result of it serves the U.S. European Command, and, by extension, America’s assist of Ukraine in its battle with Russia. The Ramstein station is backed up by the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Joint Base Cape Cod, the officers mentioned, which is supported by the 102nd Intelligence Support Squadron, the place Airman Teixeira is stationed.
By 2019, when Airman Teixeira joined the Air National Guard, the U.S. navy was working greater than 11,000 drones, in line with the Pentagon.
In 2021, his top-secret clearance was permitted, Justice Department charging paperwork mentioned, permitting him entry into the ability, which has an operations ground stuffed with laptop terminals and flat-screen televisions displaying dwell video feeds from categorized drone missions. Some websites have operations services many hundreds of sq. toes in dimension, the officers mentioned. Cellphones should not allowed inside.
Small groups of airmen on the items usually discuss to pilots flying high-altitude U-2 spy planes and RQ-4 Global Hawks in addition to MQ-9 Reapers and MQ-1 Predators over fight zones.
Airmen like Mr. Teixeira usually repair {hardware} and software program issues and conduct routine upkeep for hours at a time in what is basically an I.T. assist store whereas others gather intelligence that they’ll transmit to floor forces world wide, the officers mentioned.
According to his messages on Discord, Airman Teixeira alternated between working eight-hour shifts 5 days per week and 12-hour shifts for 3 or 4 days at a time adopted by three or 4 days off.
How the intelligence studies had been allegedly faraway from safe areas stays unclear.
President Biden has instructed officers to get to the basis of why Airman Teixeira “had access in the first place,” and Pentagon leaders are reviewing how intelligence is shared and who may have entry to sure studies sooner or later.
The Air Force introduced on April 18 that it had briefly shut down the 102nd Intelligence Wing’s missions, which have been transferred to “other organizations” throughout the service.
In the newest fallout, two of Airman Teixeira’s superiors on the wing have been suspended pending the completion of an inside investigation by the Air Force inspector common, the service mentioned on Thursday.
Their entry to categorized data has been briefly blocked, a spokeswoman added.
Source: www.nytimes.com