WASHINGTON — Jack Teixeira, a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of posting classified documents about the war in Ukraine on social media, is expected to appear in a Massachusetts federal court on Thursday, hours after the government said in a memo that he continued to be a national security risk.
The filing shed new light on the government’s case against Airman Teixeira, as lawyers for the Justice Department wrote that he had repeatedly sought to obstruct investigators, had a history of violent and racist remarks — and possessed a knowledge of U.S. intelligence that made him a prime target for a hostile foreign power.
The hearing for Airman Teixeira, who was arrested April 13 on two separate counts related to the unauthorized handling and publication of classified materials, had been scheduled for federal court in Boston earlier this month. But his lawyer, Brendan Kelley, requested more time to address the government’s arguments, and the magistrate judge, David. H. Hennessey, quickly agreed.
Prosecutors often reveal new details of their case at detention hearings, but only enough information to argue that the defendant is a potential flight risk. The information disclosed late Wednesday was an exception — it sought to portray Airman Teixeira as violent and racist as well as an unpredictable threat.
The hearing, however, is just a preliminary step. The Justice Department is expected to follow up with an indictment before a grand jury as prosectors hash out logistics, like whether to request a potential change of venue closer to Washington.
Here’s what we know about the case.
What classified documents is Airman Teixeira accused of taking?
Neither prosecutors nor national security officials yet know the full extent of the intelligence taken from the U.S. government’s classified systems. The material posted online primarily includes slides about the war in Ukraine created by the intelligence directorate of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff. But there is also highly classified material from the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and other spy agencies.
Many of the dozens of documents that have emerged so far are snapshots in time — bits of intelligence or overviews of the battlefield in Ukraine compiled on a particular day. But some of the material provides a level of detail about the strengths and weaknesses of the Russian and Ukrainian forces that American officials have been reluctant to discuss.
The documents were first posted to Thug Shaker Central, a small group on Discord, a social media platform popular among gamers. They were later shared more widely, and some were altered and reposted on other social media.
Although the charges against Airman Teixeira pertain to the documents released to Thug Shaker Central, an investigation by The New York Times found that he apparently shared sensitive intelligence to a larger group on Discord months before that.
The government’s filing late Wednesday confirmed that, but also suggested that he had access to much more information than has been made public so far.
What do investigators know about how the documents were taken?
Airman Teixeira worked as an information technology specialist and had administrative privileges on classified computer systems that appear to have allowed him access to a wide range of material, including briefing slides. But investigators are also trying to learn if he might have collected the material using less technologically sophisticated methods.
That seems to be the case: Prosecutors now say he conducted hundreds of keyword searches on government computers, and even asked members of his chat group what information they wanted him to retrieve.
What is the Pentagon doing to mitigate future leaks?
The answer to that question will depend somewhat on what investigators learn about how he got access to this material. For now, intelligence agencies are not curbing their sharing of documents with the Pentagon. President Biden has ordered the Pentagon to limit the distribution of sensitive information, however. The Pentagon has also announced that it would review procedures across the Defense Department for using and securing the nation’s secrets.
How did investigators and the news media find Airman Teixeira?
Both the F.B.I. and news reporters found him in much the same way: by interviewing other members of Discord.
The members of the Thug Shaker Central Discord server who spoke with The New York Times did not reveal Airman Teixeira’s identity. But they shared some details about him, and reporters were able to find people on other video game forums connected to the known members of Thug Shaker Central, including Airman Teixeira.
To be sure, the F.B.I. found him first. But investigators must go through legal hurdles, like obtaining court approval for a search warrant. The Times had a chance to knock on Airman Teixeira’s door a few hours before F.B.I. agents arrived to search his home.
Is this case drastically different from other leak cases?
Airman Teixeira’s case bears some resemblance to other relatively recent leak cases in which people connected to the military or a spy agency used their access to acquire sensitive documents and posted them online or gave them to the news media.
But Chelsea Manning, who gave documents to WikiLeaks, and Reality Winner and Edward Snowden, who provided documents to the news media and other organizations, were trying to bring attention to things they thought the public needed to know. Airman Teixeira is accused of sharing documents with a small group of acquaintances, rather than trying to reveal them to the wider public.
Will he be tried in Boston?
Justice Department officials have been considering whether to ask the court to move the case to the Eastern District of Virginia, a court where both prosecutors and public defenders have extensive experience handling cases involving classified secrets. While Airman Teixeira is accused of taking the documents from a military base in Massachusetts, much of that material was originally created by the Pentagon, which is in the Eastern District.
That issue is still under consideration, even though prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office in Massachusetts favor trying Airman Teixeira in Boston, according to people familiar with the situation.
Maya Shwayder contributed reporting.
Glenn Thrush and Julian E. Barnes
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