Some interesting tidbits from the warrant affidavit for accused leaker Teixeira:
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23777278-teixiera-affidavit (HT @kevincollier )
- He was arrested yesterday, but the warrant was issued this morning, which suggests he was arrested as an emergency measure. Things moved quickly in the last two days.
- At least one of the Discord users ("User 1") is cooperating. I wonder if it's the kid in the WaPo piece or someone else.
- Some "consciousness of guilt" in the access logs thrown in in ¶ 27.
Also, interestingly, the affidavit cites no evidence of contact with, or intent to leak to, foreign governments (or the media, etc). Which is not to say such evidence doesn't exist or won't be found in the future, but they'd likely have included (and added charges) it if they already had it.
So far, it looks like the motivation was simply to impress his Discord buddies.
If he really did only post the docs to his discord server for his friends, that suggests that others were involved in the larger leaks. So there may be charges against other people coming as the investigation progresses.
Anyone who was a user on that server who saw those docs should probably lawyer the hell up about now. And certainly come clean with their parents so they aren't surprised when the FBI knocks on the door.
@mattblaze would the users of the server be legally liable if they did repost those files? on what grounds?
@delfuego @mattblaze thanks, that's what I always thought. Was therefore very surprised by Matt's post.
@herid @mattblaze I mean — to be clear, federal LEOs can still make someone’s life an absolute living hell (see: Aaron Swartz). But what I hear from those who are in the know is that there is a general agreement on this one that it would be *exceedingly* difficult to go after anyone who didn’t hold a clearance for distributing this material.
@delfuego @herid That very much depends on intent and specific conduct. Knowingly giving classified (or even non-classified) material to a foreign government is likely going to get you charged with espionage. (Ask the Rosenbergs, or, more recently, the (uncleared) spouse of that feckless navy engineer who tried to peddle nuclear submarine info to Brazil).
@mattblaze @delfuego thank you for the clarification. It does seem to me that espionage is unlikely to be in play here. But we'll see.
Spectrum runs from "You find a classified doc about US war plans while housesitting for your friend who works at the Pentagon, and you immediately head over to the Russian embassy to make a deal" (very likely to be prosecuted) to "Pulitzer-prize winning journalist writes a story about a classified report that reveals that the US military is illegally kidnapping orphans for medical experiments" (less likely)
It might be legally perilous to solicit leaks of classified data as a random citizen, but if the documents land in your lap, you can spread them around and write an article about them if you want (under the Pentagon Papers precedent). You'd probably get in more legal trouble for spreading a Metallica MP3.
Of course, I wouldn't recommend doing any of this if you work for the government or wish to work for the government.
@herid @delfuego @hcetamd that’s dangerous as general advice. There may be circumstances where one can. There are also definitely circumstances where one can’t. It depends on specifics and intentions.
Also, the Pentagon Papers case wasn’t about whether the Times and Post could be prosecuted after the fact. It was about whether they could be enjoined in advance of publication (prior restraint).
@hcetamd @delfuego @herid @mattblaze I think you may underestimate just how stressful it is to be a person of interest to the FBI. They love to charge people for lying to them, and they're very good at getting people to lie to them. It's basically they're job.
If there's any chance at all that the Feds want to talk to you, you are much better off if you have talked to a lawyer before they contact you. It's money well spent. #IANAL
@mjausson @hcetamd @herid @mattblaze Yep, this FOR SURE. I said in one of my replies that the feds can definitely make your life hell no matter what.
@delfuego @hcetamd @herid @mattblaze Definitely! Even if they end up not charging you, they can hold the threat over your head for months or even years. I'd be a nervous wreck. 🥶
@herid @mattblaze Yep, this. It’s not clear that there is any specific legal theory in which users who don’t hold security clearances and/or haven’t signed lifetime bars against info disclosure could be held responsible for holding or spreading this info. (And that makes sense — regular people aren’t trained in understanding how to even tell if a piece of info is classified!)