Federal prosecutors on Wednesday said that they would ask a judge to keep behind bars a Massachusetts-based US Air National Guard member accused of leaking highly classified military documents, as he might still have access to secret national defense information he could expose.
In court papers filed late in the day, the US Department of Justice lawyers said releasing 21-year-old Jack Teixeira from jail while he awaits trial would be a grave threat to US national security.
Investigators are still trying to determine whether he kept any physical or digital copies of classified information, including files that have not surfaced publicly, they wrote.
Photo: REUTERS
“There simply is no condition or combination of conditions that can ensure the Defendant will not further disclose additional information still in his knowledge or possession,” prosecutors wrote. “The damage the Defendant has already caused to the U.S. national security is immense. The damage the Defendant is still capable of causing is extraordinary.”
A detention hearing was scheduled for yesterday in a federal court in Worcester, Massachusetts, for Teixeira, who has been in jail since his arrest earlier this month on charges stemming from the highest-profile US intelligence leak in years.
Prosecutors said in their filing that Teixeira’s attorneys have indicated that they would urge the judge to release him to his father’s home.
Photo: REUTERS / US Department of Justice
As of late Wednesday, Teixeira’s attorneys had not filed court papers arguing for his release.
Teixeira has been charged under the US’ Espionage Act with unauthorized retention and transmission of classified national defense information.
He has not yet entered a plea, and his attorney after last week’s hearing declined to speak to reporters.
He is accused of distributing highly classified documents about top national security issues in a chat room on Discord, a social media platform that started as a hangout for gamers.
The leak stunned military officials, sparked international uproar and raised fresh questions about the US’ ability to safeguard its secrets.
In describing Teixeira as a danger to the community, prosecutors wrote that the suspect, who owned multiple guns, repeatedly had “detailed and troubling discussions about violence and murder” on the platform, on which authorities say he shared the documents.
In February, he told another person that he was tempted to make a minivan into an “assassination van,” prosecutors wrote.
Prosecutors also disclosed that Teixeira was suspended during high school when a classmate overheard him discussing Molotov cocktails and other weapons, and racial threats.
The leaked documents appear to detail US and NATO aid to Ukraine, as well as 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.
Authorities have not disclosed an alleged motive.
Members of the Discord group have described Teixeira as someone looking to show off, rather than being motivated by a desire to inform the public about US military operations or to influence US policy.
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