Jack Teixeira is a 21-year-old arrested by FBI agents a few weeks ago. The reason? Allegedly leaking classified military intelligence on the Internet. On Thursday, April 27, prosecutors argued before the judge that the young man should remain in detention until the trial. If found guilty, he could face up to 15 years in prison.
Specifically, Teixeira is being charged with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and willful retention of classified documents. Since the leak, which reportedly lasted for months, U.S. officials began implementing new restrictions on who has access to highly classified material.
As prosecutors stated before Judge David Hennessy, the defendant should remain in custody because he spoke of “violence and murder” on a social media platform, including an “assassination van.” They further asserted that he may still have material of “tremendous value to hostile nation states that could offer him safe harbor and attempt to facilitate his escape from the United States.”
The Prosecutor’s Office presented a complete review of the aforementioned social media posts before the judge. Nadine Pellegrini, head of the national security division of the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office, told Judge Hennessy that what was presented “is not speculation, it is not hyperbole, nor is it the creation of a caricature. It is based on what we know to date ... directly based upon the words and actions of this defendant.”
The defense emphasized that it makes no sense for their client to remain detained until the day of the trial. “You have a young man before you who didn’t flee, has nowhere to flee. He will answer the charges, he will be judged by his fellow citizens,” said Brendan Kelley, Teixeira’s attorney. In addition, he argued that his defendant no longer has access to any such information and that there is no indication that any foreign adversary is trying to seduce him or orchestrate his departure from the country.
The investigators countered that this scenario would represent a severe threat to national security and a flight risk. In turn, they spoke of potentially “extraordinary” damage. Hennessy seemed to be more in tune with the latter’s version. “Somebody under the age of 30 has no idea that when they put something on the internet that it could end up anywhere in this world?” the judge asked. “Seriously?” he continued.
Teixeira is charged under the Espionage Act and has not pleaded guilty. The Justice Department also found that the young man used his computer in July of last year to search for mass shootings, including “Ruby Ridge,” “Las Vegas Shooting,” “Mandalay Bay shooting,” “Uvalde” and “Buffalo Tops shooting.”
The leaked documents concern aid sent by the United States and NATO to Ukraine, as well as internal assessments of its allies. They may even detail specific positions that forces held months earlier on the battlefield.
