Appearing in federal court in Worchester, Massachusetts today, 21-yearold Pentagon leaker Air National Guard Private First Class Jack Douglas Teixeira will ask to be released to his stepfather’s custody. Charged under the 1917 Espionage Act for leaking Top Secret government files about the Ukraine War and other classified documents to gamers on the messaging app Discord, Teixeira’s attorney can’t possibly think any federal judge will release him, especially knowing the arsenal found in his bedroom. Can you imagine, releasing him to his stepfather who either knew about his bedroom arsenal or showed blissful ignorance of what was going on under his own roof. Government prosecutors said Teixeira destroyed evidence, posing a flight risk should he be released to his stepfather’s supervision with a monitoring device. Teixeira kept a loaded gun two feet from his bed.
FBI agents found handguns, bolt-action rifles, military-type assault rife with a high-capacity magazine, including a gas mask, ammunition and possible silencer found in his desk drawer, attesting to his potential risk of a mass shooting or some other unknown incident. Teixeira’s attorneys are expected to ask the judge to release him to his stepfather’s custody, something that wouldn’t stop Russia or China from offering him asylum, especially knowing he could contain more Top Secret government information. When National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden fled to Moscow in 2013, he carried with him thousands of classified government files. Snowden was granted Russian citizenship by Russian President Vladimir Putin Sept. 26, 2022. Whether he released more classified files to Russia’s FSB federal security service to win his Russian citizenship is anyone’s guess.
Teixeira enlisted in the Air National Guard in 2019, stationed at Fort Edwards Joint Base in Cape Cod. When Teixeira received his top security clearance is a matter of national security, considering he was 18-year-of-age when he began his service. Exposing teenagers or post-teenagers to Top Security clearance should be reviewed by the Pentagon due to the obvious risks of wayward youth, not capable of responsibly handling classified material. U.S. prosecutors say that Teixeira, if released from custody, could be vulnerable to “hostile nation states that could offer him safe harbor and attempt to facilitate his escape from the United States,” said federal prosecutors. Whether Russia offered Snowden asylum when he fled from Honolulu to Hong Kong isn’t known but certainly Teixeira would be a flight risk. Teixeira’s Air National Guard superiors had no clue he was ratting out his government.
Teixeira’s attorney asked in a court filing for the 21-year-old to be released to the custody of his stepfather on a $20,000 bond with a monitoring bracelet with restricted Intenet access, something that would cost the family only $2,000. How any judge could accept those conditions is highly dubious, especially knowing the severity of the crimes alleged in Teixeira’s case. Saying the government “engages in hyperbolic judgments and provides little more that speculation that a foreign adversary will seduce Mr. Teixeira and orchestrate his clandestine escape from the United States,” wrote Teixeia’s attorneys. Teixeira was caught with an arsenal of dangerous weapons, something found in possession of mass shooters and serial killers and they find no risk to the public. Attorneys like to divert attention away from the pressing risks connected with potentially dangerous criminals.
Teixeira’s attorney can’t possibly argue that their client is not a risk to the public or, for that matter, a flight risk considering the nature of his crimes. Publicizing Top Secret government information is reason enough to keep Teixeira incarcerated pending his trial. Finding a treasure trove of dangerous weapons used in serial and mass shootings should raise the stakes in any determination of any own-cognizance release. “This arguments is illusory. The government has presented no articulable [probable cause] facts to support these assertions,” said Teixeira’s attorney, completely ignoring his personal gun arsenal and history, on the Internet, of racist and violent threats. No federal judge can ignore Teixeira’s arsenal or history of making violent and racist threats. Teixura’s attorneys wanting the judge to believe that there’s no probable cause for denying bail to their client.
Charging Teixeira’s today with violating the 1917 Espionage Act doesn’t begin to ascertain not only the flight risk but the risk of violence with his arsenal of dangerous weapons. Any federal judge knows the history of government leakers, especially the Edward Snowden affair, where he evaded the FBI and CIA while fleeing to Hong Kong then Russia in 2013. “There is no allegation . . .that Mr. Teixeira has any intent for these documents to become widely available on the Internet or destined to disrupt geopolitical affairs of the United States,” wrote Teixeira’s attorneys. Teixeira’s attorney’s are apparently not familiar with Top Security clearances and the solemn oath to not divulge any classified government information. No judge can buy Teixeira’s arguments that he doesn’t present a flight risk, or, more importantly, a danger to the public given his predilection for dangerous weapons.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
