Massachusetts Air National Guard officials scolded a 21-year-old service member accused of leaking classified government documents multiple times in 2022 for copying sensitive information that he was not supposed to be viewing, according to new court filings.
Prosecutors and lawyers for Jack Teixeira filed new arguments Wednesday ahead of a Friday court hearing in Worcester where a magistrate judge is expected to decide whether Teixeira should remain behind bars for the foreseeable future.
Government lawyers said Teixeira used a top-secret security clearance he obtained while working at Joint Base Cape Cod to illegally leak government documents online. And they also argue Teixeira should remain detained because he continued to look at and copy classified information even after he was reprimanded by his superiors.
A redacted letter dated September 2022 from a Massachusetts Air National Guard master sergeant says they were “made aware” that Teixeira had been “observed taking notes on classified information.”
“(A staff sergeant) told a (master sergeant) that he observed A1C Teixeira put the note into his pocket and at that time asked A1C Teixeira if he planned to shred it,” the letter reads. “… A1C Teixeira has been instructed to no longer take notes in any form on classified intelligence information.”
Another redacted letter dated October 2022 said a master sergeant found out Teixeira was “potentially ignoring the cease-and-desist order on deep diving into intelligence information” from September 2022.
Teixeira was again instructed to “continue to cease-and-desist on any deep dives into classified intelligence information and focus on his job.”
And a February 2023 letter says a master sergeant observed Teixeira on an intelligence communications system “viewing content that was not related to his primary duty and was related to the intelligence field.”
“Teixeira had been previously notified to focus on his own career duties and to not seek out intelligence products,” the letter said.
In arguing for his release, Teixeira’s public defenders said judges have previously allowed accused leakers to go free amidst their court proceedings with a number of restrictions in place. In many instances, those people “held a vast knowledge of classified information because of their work,” the defense lawyers said.
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