No. of Recommendations: 17
A civilian employee working for the Department of Defense was arrested on Friday, August 9, 2024 as he exited his home to head for the airport to fly to Mexico for vacation. Between a document found packed for his trip and other documents found inside his home obtained with a subsequent search warrant were a document labeled Top Secret and two other docs with Top Secret and SCIF annotations. He was also carrying his security credential with him en route to the airport. The person arrested is a dual-citizen of Turkey and the United States named Gohkan Gun.
Prosecutors had filed a motion to require the suspect to remain on home detention until trial given the nature of the documents involved and his intent to travel abroad with at least some of the documents and his security clearance. A federal judge curiously overruled that request on August 13. For the moment, charges only involve mis-handling of the documents but prosecutors are reviewing the evidence to see if charges for attempts to disseminate the material to foreign parties are warranted under the Espionage Act.
It will be fascinating to compare and contrast the course of this investigation and prosecution with that of another recent case that also involved:
* possession of top secret materials outside secured locations
* relocation of top secret documents BETWEEN insecure locations
* possible dissemination of content of top secret materials
I wonder what will happen?
* Will the defendent tap millions of dollars to fund YEARS of unwarranted delays?
* Will a federal judge for the Eastern District of Virginia suddenly decide to dismiss the case, inventing some bizarre rationale for why prosecutors have no right to bring the case?
* Will a federal judge or the Supreme Court intervene to suddenly declare the Espionage Act unconstitutional, declaring some new, universal right to spy?
One thing is certain. If the defendent in this Virginia case ever sees the inside of a prison cell for his crimes, it will be earlier than the day Donald Trump ever sees a cell -- or ANY punishment -- for his national security crimes, despite his crimes beginning January 20, 2021, an FBI investigation beginning March 30, 2022, a grand jury issuing a subpoena for all outstanding documents May 11, 2022, the FBI working a search warrent for STILL-unreturned documents on August 8, 2022 and an indictment being filed by a grand jury on June 8, 2023.
WTH
