Airman remains in detention as he awaits trial
A federal magistrate ruled on Friday that Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old Air Force National Guardsman accused of posting dozens of classified documents on an online gaming platform, will remain behind bars pending trial because he poses an ongoing threat to national security.
The judge, David H. Hennessy, cited Airman Teixeira’s history of seeking, accessing, and posting classified intelligence material in defiance of superiors at an air base on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, by requesting the pilot to be released on bail. to refuse. custody of his father.
Airman Teixeira’s actions were “a grave violation” of the oath he took to protect sensitive information when he received his security clearance, Judge Hennessy said at a custody hearing at the federal courthouse in Worcester, Massachusetts. His ruling came after the government submitted evidence that the aviator continued to have access to sensitive information months after his superiors noticed his suspicious behavior.
The decision was a victory for the government, which is trying to send the strongest possible message to potential speakers after a humiliating revelation of national security secrets that appears to have been carried out by a boastful young man trying to impress his online friends.
The government had also argued that it was too dangerous to release Airman Teixeira into his community outside of Boston, and provided evidence that he had made racist and violent threats. A review of thousands of posts on the social media platform Discord this month by The New York Times revealed that the aviator had expressed a fascination with mass shootings, conspiracy theories and guns.
The hearing came two days after federal prosecutors revealed that the aviator’s superiors had missed several opportunities to limit his access to the secrets about the Ukraine war that he brazenly shared with people around the world who had signed up for three chat groups on Discord.
Air Force officials caught Airman Teixeira taking notes and conducting in-depth searches for classified materials months before he was charged with leaking a vast trove of government secrets.
On two occasions, in September and October 2022, Airman Teixeira’s superiors in the Massachusetts Air National Guard admonished him after reports that he had taken “concerning actions” while handling classified information.
Those included stuffing a note into his pocket after reviewing classified information within his unit, according to the court.
Airman Teixeira — who shared secrets with dozens of online friends on Discord until March — “was instructed not to take any more notes in any form on classified intelligence information,” the department’s lawyers wrote in an 11-page memo advocating for his indefinite detention.
The aviator’s superiors also ordered him to “stop diving deep into classified intelligence information,” though it’s not clear how or if they’re enforcing that directive.
Two of Airman Teixeira’s superiors at the 102nd Intelligence Wing on Cape Cod have been suspended pending the completion of an internal investigation by the Air Force’s inspector general, a spokeswoman for the agency, Ann Stefanek, said. Their access to classified information has been temporarily blocked, she added.
Now that a decision has been made on Airman Teixeira’s custody status, his case will likely be assigned to another federal judge, in Boston. There remains a slim possibility that lawyers from the Justice Department’s national security division will request that the case be moved to a court in Northern Virginia, which also includes the Pentagon, but that is becoming increasingly unlikely, people said. with knowledge of the situation.
The next big step is likely to be the filing of an indictment by the grand jury, which would include a much more detailed account of the charges against Airman Teixeira, including a record of the charges awaiting him. Prosecutors have already suggested the charges could lead to at least 25 years in prison.