DOJ Tells Court Teixeira A Flight Risk & May Have More To Leak, Makes Ed Snowden Comparison

Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking classified US intelligence documents online, is being called a flight risk by the Justice Department. The DOJ in a Wednesday night court filing also said it fears he could possibly leak more info if he’s allowed release before he is tried. That’s what is currently before a federal judge in Massachusetts.

During a Thursday hearing in a federal court in Worcester, the DOJ asserted that if he is released on bail, he might ”further disseminate classified information” and ”take refuge with a foreign adversary.”

Teixeira’s family members outside the federal court building in Worcester, Mass. Teixeira, via AP.

The DOJ further compared him to Edward Snowden, who for years has taken refuge with his wife and child in Russia, having also recently been granted Russian citizenship.

ABC News described Thursday’s court hearing as follows: ”Teixeira walked into the courtroom for his Thursday detention hearing handcuffed, wearing a long rosary necklace and an orange jumpsuit.” Further, ”The 21-year-old looked at his family members sitting in the first two rows, and one woman in the front row began to cry.”

Teixeira faces 25 year in prison and ”potentially far more,” according to a DOJ detention memo, which argues further: 

The lengthy potential maximum sentence could make him a significant flight risk, prosecutors argue, and the value of the information he obtained — as well as his low current net worth of about $19,000 — could make him vulnerable to offers from countries unfriendly to the U.S.

As has become common in leak prosecutions, the US Justice Department maintains that Jack Teixeira must remain in pretrial detention because he has ”knowledge” of classified information that he may continue to disclose to the press or public if released from jail pic.twitter.com/HKIylqQXZc

— Kevin Gosztola (@kgosztola) April 27, 2023

The memo lays out that ”He accessed and may still have access to a trove of classified information that would be of tremendous value to hostile nation states that could offer him safe harbor and attempt to facilitate his escape from the United States.”

The government says it has proof that he intended to circulate classified or sensitive information among foreign countries and entities. According to DOJ filings…

After hearing from both sides, federal magistrate judge David Hennessy said he needs more time to make a final decision on pretrial detention.

Federal judges rarely, if ever, allow for bail in cases of federal or military employees caught leaking government secrets. Even an alleged leaker’s ”knowledge” of the classified intel means they are kept locked up on fears they could still communicate secrets to outside entities. 

Meanwhile, there are reports that the US Air Force has suspended two leaders of the national guard unit in which Teixeira served, pending the ongoing investigation into the extent of the unauthorized disclosure. Presumably the government is also looking into any possible co-conspirator scenarios, but so far he’s been presented as a lone actor.