The case of accused Massachusetts military secrets leaker Jack Teixeira will return to federal court on Monday for a status conference.
Federal prosecutors say that Teixeira, either 21 or 22, abused his security clearance as a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman to share more than 40 images of classified documents largely regarding the war in Ukraine to the roughly 50 members of a Discord server he led. A “server” is what the gaming-dominated social media platform Discord calls individual groups or forums.
The images were said to have been posted to the group between December 2022 and March, according to court documents. The alleged sharing “endangered our national security,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland would later say.
Teixeira was arrested April 13 at the North Dighton home of one of his parents and was charged with two counts: unauthorized removal and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or materials. He was ordered held, where he remains despite the defense’s persistent appeals to the order.
He was indicted June 15 on six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information relating to national defense. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in federal court in Worcester six days later.
There had been no public filings in the case since early October when U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy approved a motion to impound even non-classified government documents presented as evidence during the discovery process in the case.
A minor update — a case status report filed by both prosecutors and the defense — filed Friday states that “No further protective order is necessary” regarding the flow of evidence in the background.
The discovery, whether classified or unclassified, regards either the military secrets the government says Teixeira shared or has to do with the systems that federal agencies use to monitor their informational security, according to filings in the case. The last defense request for discovery was filed Nov. 30, according to Friday’s report.
“The parties are working collaboratively to address these requests, including disputes, and as such there are no issues ripe for presentation to the Court at this time,” the report states. “Mr. Teixeira continues to review the most recently provided unclassified discovery and anticipates making any additional request prior to the next scheduled status hearing.”
The parties have not had any substantive discussions about a plea deal, the report notes, and will return to federal court in Worcester on Monday, albeit by telephone. The report requests the next status conference be held in about 45 days.
