A federal Justice of the Peace dominated on Friday that Jack Teixeira, the 21-year-old Air Force National Guardsman accused of posting scores of secret paperwork to an internet gaming platform, will stay behind bars pending his trial as a result of he poses a seamless menace to nationwide safety.
The decide, David H. Hennessy, cited Airman Teixeira’s historical past of in search of out, having access to and posting labeled intelligence supplies in defiance of superiors at an Air Force base on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, in denying the airman’s request to be launched on bond into the custody of his father.
Airman Teixeira’s actions had been “a profound breach” of the oath he took to guard delicate info when he was given his safety clearance, Judge Hennessy stated throughout a custody listening to on the federal courthouse in Worcester, Mass. His ruling got here after the federal government launched proof that the airman continued to have entry to delicate intelligence months after his superiors famous his suspicious habits.
The choice was a victory for the federal government, which is in search of to ship the strongest attainable message to potential leakers after a humiliating disclosure of nationwide safety secrets and techniques that seems to have been pulled off by a boastful younger man making an attempt to impress his on-line mates.
The authorities had additionally argued that it was too harmful to launch Airman Teixeira into his group outdoors Boston, presenting proof that he had made racist and violent threats. A evaluation of hundreds of posts on the social media platform Discord this month by The New York Times revealed that the airman had expressed fascination with mass shootings, conspiracy theories and weapons.
The listening to got here two days after federal prosecutors disclosed that the airman’s superiors had missed a number of alternatives to restrict his entry to the secrets and techniques concerning the Ukraine struggle he openly shared with individuals from around the globe who subscribed to a few discussion groups on Discord.
Air Force officers caught Airman Teixeira taking notes and conducting deep-dive searches for labeled materials months earlier than he was charged with leaking an unlimited trove of presidency secrets and techniques, however didn’t take away him from his job, in accordance with a Justice Department submitting on Wednesday.
On two events in September and October 2022, Airman Teixeira’s superiors within the Massachusetts Air National Guard admonished him after reviews that he had taken “concerning actions” whereas dealing with labeled info.
Those included stuffing a be aware into his pocket after reviewing secret info inside his unit, in accordance with the court docket submitting.
Airman Teixeira — who till March shared secrets and techniques with scores of on-line mates on Discord — “was instructed to no longer take notes in any form on classified intelligence information,” division legal professionals wrote in an 11-page memo arguing for his indefinite detention.
The airman’s superiors additionally ordered him to “cease and desist on any deep dives into classified intelligence information,” though it isn’t clear how, or if, they enforced that directive.
Two of Airman Teixeira’s superiors on the 102nd Intelligence Wing on Cape Cod have been suspended pending completion of an inside investigation by the Air Force inspector basic, a spokeswoman for the service, Ann Stefanek, stated. Their entry to labeled info has been quickly blocked, she added.
Now {that a} choice has been made on Airman Teixeira’s custody standing, his case will doubtless be assigned to a unique federal decide, in Boston. There stays a distant chance that legal professionals with the Justice Department’s nationwide safety division will request the case be moved to a court docket in Northern Virginia, which incorporates the Pentagon, however that’s more and more unlikely, individuals with data of the state of affairs stated.
The subsequent main step is more likely to be the submitting of a grand jury indictment, which would come with a way more detailed narrative of the allegations in opposition to Airman Teixeira, together with an accounting of the fees he’ll face. Prosecutors have already recommended the fees might lead to a jail sentence of not less than 25 years.
Source: www.nytimes.com