The Massachusetts Air National Guard member charged with leaking highly classified military documents was repeatedly warned by superiors over his handling or viewing of classified information, prosecutors say.
Justice Department lawyers made the disclosure in a court filings on Wednesday, urging a judge to keep 21-year-old Jack Teixeira behind bars while he awaits trial in the case.
Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy is expected to hear more arguments on prosecutors’ request, and issue a ruling on Teixeira’s pre-trial detention status at a hearing on Friday.
Teixeira is accused of sharing highly classified documents about top national security issues in a chatroom on Discord, a social media platform that started as a hangout for gamers. He has not yet entered a plea in the case.
The documents, which spread widely online, unveiled US concerns about Ukraine’s military capacity against invading Russian forces, and embarrassingly revealed Washington’s apparent spying on allies Israel and South Korea.
Jack Teixeira, 21, was repeatedly warned by superiors over his handling or viewing of classified information, prosecutors say
Several memos disclosed by prosecutors noted that superiors were concerned by Teixeira’s behavior in relation to classified information, and repeatedly warned him on the issue
Prosecutors told the judge in their filing that Teixeira continued leaking documents even after he was admonished by superiors on two separate occasions last year over ‘concerning actions’ he took related to classified information.
A September memo from the Air National Guard 102nd Intelligence Wing that prosecutors filed in court says Teixeira had been observed taking notes on classified intelligence information and putting the notes in his pocket.
Teixeira was instructed at the time to no longer take notes in any form on classified intelligence information, the memo says.
Another memo from late October says a superior had been made aware that Teixeira was ‘potentially ignoring the cease-and-desist order on deep diving into intelligence information’ given to him the month before.
The memo says Teixeira attended a meeting and proceeded to ask ‘very specific questions.’ He was told again to focus on his job, not any ‘deep dives’ into classified intelligence information.
Still, a third memo from February says Teixeira was again observed viewing information ‘that was not related to his primary duty and was related to the intelligence field.’ Teixeira ‘had previously been notified to focus on his own career duties and to not seek out intelligence products,’ the memo said.
‘The Defendant even continued to share information with his online associates, defying these admonishments and taking further efforts to conceal his unlawful conduct,’ prosecutors wrote.
Prosecutors cited a video clip published by the Washington Post (above), in which Teixeira is seen spewing racist slurs before raising a semi-automatic rifle and firing repeatedly
Prosecutors shared this certificate showing that Teixeira had completed training on handling classified information, arguing he clearly knew leaking the documents was wrong
This image contained in Justice Department motion for continued pretrial detention of Jack Teixeira, shows his room at his father’s home in North Dighton, Massachusetts
The revelations have raised questions about why military officials did not take further action and why Teixeira continued to have access to classified information after his superiors raised concerns.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh was questioned on Thursday about why Teixeira´s leaders did not take action after the concerns were raised.
Singh referred to the Justice Department and Air Force investigations, and said those concerns and potential lack of response to them was one of the areas the inquiries would examine.
A judge is expected to rule on Teixeira’s request for pre-trial release on Friday
Lawyers for Teixeira, who was arrested last month on charges under the Espionage Act, are urging the judge to release Teixeira to his father’s home, noting that the man didn’t flee when media outlets began publishing his name shortly before his April 13 arrest.
His lawyer told the judge last month that Teixeira ‘will answer the charges’ and ‘will be judged by his fellow citizens.’
In their own court filing Wednesday, Teixeira’s lawyers noted there have been many Espionage Act cases in which courts have approved release or the government did not seek to keep the person behind bars pretrial.
They have also said there is no allegation that Teixeira ever intended for documents to be distributed widely.
But prosecutors said in their filing Wednesday that one of the servers on the social media platform he posted classified information to had at least 150 users at the time the information was shared and ‘now may have many more users that are actively seeking access to information.’
‘Among the individuals with whom the Defendant shared government information are a number of individuals who represented that they resided in other countries and who logged on to the social media platform using foreign IP addresses,’ prosecutors wrote.
In Discord messages, Teixeira bragged about the scope of information he had access to and stated that he was breaking ‘a ton’ of regulations, according to chat logs shared in court filings
The leaked documents like the one above, which spread widely on Twitter and Russia-based Telegram, disclosed intelligence on the Ukraine war, among other information
In messages, Teixeira bragged about the scope of information he had access to, writing, ‘The information I give here is less than half of what’s available,’ prosecutors said.
He also acknowledged he wasn’t supposed to be sharing the information, prosecutors said, noting in one breezy message, ‘I’m breaking a ton of UD [unauthorized disclosure] regs’.
Teixeira continued: ‘All of the s**t I’ve told you guys I’m not supposed to,’ according to the Justice Department’s filing.
Judge Hennessy heard arguments from lawyers over detention late last month, but has yet to issue a ruling and scheduled a second hearing on the matter for Friday following multiple continuances.
In earlier court records, prosecutors alleged that Teixeira kept ‘virtual arsenal’ of weapons in his father’s home before his arrest, and has a history of violent and disturbing remarks.
The leaked documents appear to detail US and NATO aid to Ukraine and US intelligence assessments regarding US allies that could strain ties with those nations.
Some show real-time details from February and March of Ukraine’s and Russia’s battlefield positions and precise numbers of battlefield gear lost and newly flowing into Ukraine from its allies.
