Guardsman pleads not guilty in espionage case
Dighton man faces charges of leaking hundreds of classified military documents online
WORCESTER — Jack D. Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking a trove of top secret information on the Internet, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to multiple federal espionage charges during his arraignment in federal court.
Teixeira, 21, of Dighton, who has been in custody since his arrest in April, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston last week on six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information in violation of the Espionage Act.
On Wednesday, he stood between his two lawyers as US Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy read each count and asked him how he pleaded.
“Not guilty, your honor,” Teixeira said six times as he leaned down and spoke into a microphone on a table in front of him.
Hennessy denied a request by one of Teixeira’s lawyers, Brendan O. Kelley, to reconsider his decision to keep Teixeira in custody while awaiting trial. The next hearing date in the case is Aug. 9, when both sides will update the court on the status of the case.
Teixeira’s mother, stepfather, and a handful of other relatives came to support him, and he nodded at them and smiled as they sat in the spectator section. “We remain as committed as ever and our entire family continues to share complete and unwavering support of Jack as he faces this matter,” the family said in a statement that was released to the media by a spokesperson after the hearing. “The important thing is Jack will now have his day in court. And as we move through this process, we are hopeful that Jack will be getting the fair and just treatment he deserves. We realize there is a long road ahead, and we ask for your continued respect for our privacy during this difficult ordeal.”
Teixeira, a cyber-defense operations journeyman assigned to the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod, is accused of leaking hundreds of documents containing classified military information about the Ukraine war and other sensitive intelligence matters on Discord, a social media platform popular with gamers.
The government initially filed a
FEDERAL COURT ARRAIGNMENT
Prosecutors allege Jack D. Teixeira shared information about the Ukraine war, including troop movements.
criminal complaint and was required to obtain a grand jury indictment to move the case forward, paving the way for a jury trial.
The indictment alleges that Teixeira may have released classified documents as early as January 2022, but specifically charges him with incidents between November and April. It alleges that he retained and transmitted the classified national defense information, including information regarding “the compromise by a foreign adversary of certain accounts belong to a U.S. company” and how equipment in Ukraine would be transferred and used.
It also alleges he retained and transmitted government documents, including one that describes the status of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, including troop movements and one “discussing a plot by a foreign adversary to target United States forces abroad,” including “where and how the attack on United States forces would occur.” Another describes Western deliveries of supplies to the Ukrainian battlefield. A fourth document describes “a shift in foreign and economic policy of a particular foreign government and actions that country took in an effort to repair its relationship with the United States, to the perceived detriment of a separate foreign country.”
In a statement after Teixeira’s indictment, US Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said Teixeira was “entrusted” with “information that reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to national security if shared.”
“Teixeira is charged with sharing information with users on a social media platform he knew were not entitled to receive it,” Garland said. “In doing so, he is alleged to have violated US law and endangered our national security.”
Teixeira has been held at the Plymouth jail since his April 13 arrest. Last month, Hennessy granted the government’s request to hold him without bail while awaiting trial, ruling that he would pose a security risk and may flee to another country if released.
Hennessy said he was troubled by government filings that alleged Teixeira acknowledged during messages with a member of a private online group that he was posting classified information and boasted “idgaf,” meaning “I don’t give a [expletive].”
Teixeira’s lawyers argued that he has no history of violence, is a lifelong resident of Dighton except for some of his time in the military, and would pose no danger if released.
The arraignment was held in Worcester because Hennessy is primarily assigned to that federal court, but the case is expected to be tried in Boston.
Prosecutors alleged in court filings that Teixeira shared classified information that could cause grave danger to the United States with more than 150 people worldwide, used his security clearance to search intelligence databanks for information on notorious mass shootings, fantasized online about killing people, and kept a locker full of handguns and “high-capacity” rifles beside his bed.
Prosecutors wrote Teixeira “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.”
Around July 30, he searched for the following terms: “Ruby Ridge,” “Las Vegas shooting,” “Mandalay Bay shooting,” “Buffalo tops [supermarket] shooting,” and “Uvalde,” according to an FBI affidavit.
An FBI affidavit alleges Teixeira sent troubling messages to members of a private group on Discord and wrote in November: “I hope isis goes through with their attack plan and creates a massacre at the World Cup” and “If I had my way I’d kill a [expletive] ton of people ... Seriously I would be forcibly culling the weak minded.”
During a search in April of the Dighton home Teixeira shared with his mother and stepfather, FBI agents found a gun locker about two feet from his bed containing handguns, bolt-action rifles, shotguns, an AK-style high-capacity weapon, and a gas mask, according to court filings.
When Teixeira was 16, he was suspended from high school after a classmate overheard him make remarks about weapons, including Molotov cocktails, guns at the school, and racial threats, according to a government motion seeking Teixeira’s detention. At the time, Teixeira said he was speaking about a video game, but other students disputed that, according to the filing.
However, defense lawyers argued in court the high school incident was thoroughly vetted by the Air National Guard before Teixeira was granted security clearance. They said he legally owned and stored his guns, is not a threat to anyone, and should be released on bail.