Age of airman in leaks case not the issue: defense chief

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and TARA COPP
Associated Press

MUSKO NAVAL BASE, Sweden (AP) — The age of the 21-year-old airman charged in one of the most significant U.S. intelligence leaks in recent memory has been the focus of a growing question: Why would the nation give someone so young access to some of its most important secrets? But the Massachusetts airman’s age has not come up as a focus of the Pentagon’s investigation into how the documents were leaked. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday in Sweden that the “vast majority” of the U.S. military is young. Austin says, “It’s not exceptional that young people are doing important things” in the military and that’s “really not the issue.”