- Jack Teixeira, 21, was charged with leaking secret Pentagon information earlier this year.
- He was caught taking notes on classified information before his arrest, prosecutors said Wednesday.
- Superiors had warned Teixeira on multiple occasions, but he didn’t listen, they said.
Jack Teixeira, the Pentagon leak suspect, was caught taking notes inside a top-secret room and then stuffing them in his pocket, prosecutors said in court documents seen by Insider.
The new filing shows that Teixeira had been warned by his superiors about mishandling classified information on multiple occasions before his arrest.
The 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman has been indicted in connection to a classified information leak that involved hundreds of Pentagon documents.
Prosecutors said that superiors warned Teixeira once in September 2022 and once in October 2022 about “concerning actions that [Teixeira] took related to classified information.”
The warnings came after the 21-year-old “had been observed taking notes” inside a room specifically designed to handle sensitive classified material, they said, before slipping them into his pocket.
When he met with his superiors, he “was instructed to no longer take notes in any form on classified intelligence information and to ‘cease-and-desist on any deep dives into classified intelligence information,'” prosecutors said.
Some of the document is redacted, including his reply when asked if was going to shred the notes.
However, Teixeira did not listen, and continued taking notes in secret up until at least February 23, they added.
Meanwhile, the 21-year-old continued bragging on social media platforms about the amount of access he had to Pentagon information, telling Discord users that he was “breaking a ton of UD regs,” chat records cited in the court documents show. “UD regs” is a reference to “unauthorized disclosure.”
Teixeira joined the Air National Guard in September 2019, according to a criminal complaint. Two years later, he was given a “top secret” security clearance.
Some of the documents Teixeira is accused of leaking online included details about Russia’s spy agencies’ activities and details about aid to Ukraine.
Teixeira has been charged with the retention and transmission of national defense information and the willful retention of classified documents. He faces up to 25 years in prison.
The court documents have been made public as Teixeira’s lawyers argue that he should be released on bond and live with his father, where they say, he will be fully monitored.
However, federal prosecutors are arguing that Texeira poses a security risk because he must still be in possession of classified documents. They are also worried that he could be recruited by foreign governments to find out what he knows.
A judge will rule on whether the 21-year-old should remain behind bars while awaiting trial on Friday.
