By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, ERIC TUCKER and TARA COPP (Associated Press)
WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — The Massachusetts Air National guardsman accused of leaking extremely categorized army paperwork saved an arsenal of weapons and mentioned on social media that he wish to kill a “ton of people,” prosecutors mentioned in arguing Thursday that 21-year-old Jack Teixeira ought to stay in jail for his trial.
But the choose at Teixeira’s detention listening to postpone an instantaneous determination whether or not he ought to be saved in custody till his trial or launched to dwelling confinement or underneath different situations. Teixeira was led away from the courtroom in handcuffs, black rosary beads round his neck, pending that ruling.
The courtroom filings increase new questions on why Teixeira had such a excessive safety clearance and entry to a few of the nation’s most categorized secrets and techniques. They mentioned he should have materials that hasn’t been launched, which could possibly be of “tremendous value to hostile nation states that could offer him safe harbor and attempt to facilitate his escape from the United States.”
In Teixeira’s detention listening to, Magistrate Judge David Hennessy expressed skepticism of protection arguments that the federal government hasn’t proven Teixeira ever meant leaked info to be broadly disseminated.
“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 choose requested. “Seriously?”
Teixeira entered his listening to in Worcester in orange jail garb, smiling at his father within the entrance row. His handcuffs have been eliminated earlier than he sat down and put again on when he was taken out.
One risk is that the choose may order Teixeira to be confined at his father’s dwelling whereas awaiting trial, if not held in jail. Under questioning on the listening to, his father, Jack Michael Teixeira, mentioned he was conscious that if his son have been to violate situations of launch or dwelling confinement, he’d need to report him. The elder Teixeira mentioned he owns firearms however now not has any in his dwelling.
“You have a young man before you who didn’t flee, has nowhere to flee,” mentioned Brendan Kelley, the defendant’s lawyer. “He will answer the charges, he will be judged by his fellow citizens”
But Nadine Pellegrini, chief of nationwide safety division within the Massachusetts U.S. legal professional’s workplace, advised the choose the data prosecutors submitted to the courtroom in regards to the defendant’s threatening phrases and conduct “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 prosecution’s submitting accommodates a overview of what it says are Teixeira social media posts, stating in November that he would “kill a (expletive) ton of people” if he had his method, as a result of it might be “culling the weak minded.”
Late Wednesday, the Air Force introduced it suspended the commander of the 102nd Intelligence Support Squadron the place Teixeira labored and the executive commander “overseeing the support for the unit mobilized under federal orders,” pending additional investigation. It additionally briefly eliminated every chief’s entry to categorized methods and knowledge.
Court papers urging a federal choose to maintain Teixeira in custody detailed a troubling historical past going again to highschool, the place he was suspended when a classmate overheard him discussing Molotov cocktails and different weapons in addition to racial threats. More just lately, prosecutors mentioned, he used his authorities laptop to analysis previous mass shootings and standoffs with federal brokers.
He stays a grave menace to nationwide safety and a flight danger, prosecutors wrote, and investigators are nonetheless making an attempt to find out whether or not he saved any bodily or digital copies of categorized info, together with information that haven’t already surfaced publicly.
“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.”
Teixeira has been in jail since his arrest earlier this month on prices stemming from probably the most consequential intelligence leak in years.
Teixeira has been charged underneath the Espionage Act with unauthorized retention and transmission of categorized nationwide protection info. He has not but entered a plea.
His legal professionals are urging the choose to launch him from jail, arguing in courtroom papers filed Thursday that applicable situations will be set even when the courtroom finds him to be a flight danger — similar to confinement at his father’s dwelling and site monitoring.
The protection mentioned Teixeira now not has entry to any top-secret info and accused prosecutors of offering “little more than speculation that a foreign adversary will seduce Mr. Teixeira and orchestrate his clandestine escape from the United States.”
“The government’s allegations … offer no support that Mr. Teixeira currently, or ever, intended any information purportedly to the private social media server to be widely disseminated,” they wrote. “Thus, its argument that Mr. Teixeira will continue to release information or destroy evidence if not detained rings hollow.”
Prosecutors wrote of their submitting that he saved his gun locker inside attain of his mattress and in it have been handguns, bolt-action rifles, shotguns, an AK-style high-capacity weapon, and a fuel masks.
They mentioned FBI particular brokers additionally discovered ammunition and tactical pouches on his dresser, what gave the impression to be a silencer-style accent in his desk drawer and a military-style helmet within the dumpster with a mounting bracket similar to that used for a digicam.
He is accused of distributing extremely categorized paperwork about prime nationwide safety points in a chat room on Discord, a social media platform that began as a hangout for players. The leak surprised army officers, sparked a global uproar and raised contemporary questions on America’s capability to safeguard its secrets and techniques.
The leaked paperwork seem to element U.S. and NATO support to Ukraine and U.S. intelligence assessments concerning U.S. allies that might pressure ties with these nations. Some present real-time particulars from February and March of Ukraine’s and Russia’s battlefield positions and exact numbers of battlefield gear misplaced and newly flowing into Ukraine from its allies.
Prosecutors wrote that Teixeira, who owned a number of weapons, repeatedly had “detailed and troubling discussions about violence and murder” on the platform the place authorities say he shared the paperwork. In February, he advised one other person who he was tempted to make a minivan into an “assassination van,” prosecutors wrote.
The Justice Department’s submitting outlines a sample of troubling conduct that officers say started effectively earlier than he entered the army and continued in latest months, whilst his place afforded him entry to authorities secrets and techniques.
In 2018, prosecutors allege, Teixeira was suspended after a classmate “overheard him make remarks about weapons, including Molotov cocktails, guns at the school, and racial threats.” His preliminary utility for a firearms identification card that very same yr was denied because of police division issues over these remarks.
He utilized once more over the subsequent two years, and cited in his 2020 utility after becoming a member of the Guard “his position of trust in the United States government as a reason he could be trusted to possess a firearm,” prosecutors wrote.
The Justice Department mentioned that it has additionally discovered by means of its investigation that Teixeira in July used his authorities laptop to search for a collection of U.S. mass shootings and authorities standoffs, together with the phrases “Ruby Ridge,” “Las Vegas shooting,” “Mandalay Bay shooting,” “Uvalde” and “Buffalo tops shooting” — an obvious reference to the 2022 racist mass capturing at a Buffalo grocery store.
The searches of mass shootings on a authorities laptop ought to have triggered the pc to generate an instantaneous referral to safety, which may have then led to a extra in-depth overview of Teixeira’s file, in accordance with Dan Meyer, a lawyer who focuses on army, federal employment and safety clearance points. The Air Force’s investigation will in all probability uncover whether or not a referral was generated — and whether or not safety officers did something with the data.
Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder declined to debate the specifics of Teixeira’s case. “We do want to allow the investigation to run its course to get the facts,” Ryder mentioned.
He advised a press briefing that when individuals utilizing Defense Department computer systems or telephones attempt to entry websites they shouldn’t, they get a banner alert and notifications go to their supervisors or safety officers. “You are subject to monitoring,” Ryder mentioned.
Teixeira’s legal professionals mentioned he has no prison historical past and would haven’t any entry to weapons if he have been launched. The incident at his highschool was “thoroughly investigated” and he was allowed to come back again after just a few days and a psychological analysis, they wrote. That investigation was “fully known and vetted ” by the Air National Guard earlier than he enlisted and when he obtained his prime secret safety clearance, they mentioned.
Months later, after information retailers started reporting on the paperwork leak, Teixeira took steps to destroy proof after information retailers started reporting on it. Authorities who searched a dumpster at his dwelling discovered a smashed laptop computer, pill and Xbox gaming console, they mentioned.
Authorities haven’t alleged a motive. Members of the Discord group have described Teixeira as somebody seeking to showcase, somewhat than being motivated by a want to tell the general public about U.S. army operations or to affect American coverage.
Billing data the FBI obtained from Discord have been among the many issues that led authorities to Teixeira, who enlisted within the Air National Guard in September 2019. A Discord consumer advised the FBI {that a} username linked to Teixeira started posting what gave the impression to be categorized info roughly in December.
Teixeira was detected on April 6 — the day The New York Times first revealed a narrative in regards to the breach of paperwork — looking for the phrase “leak” in a categorized system, in accordance with courtroom papers. The FBI says that was purpose to imagine Teixeira was looking for details about the investigation into who was liable for the leaks.
____
Tucker and Copp reported from Washington.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”