WILMINGTON, N.C. — Federal prosecutors today agreed to not bring up classified materials found in possession of a Marine Corps veteran and neo-Nazi when he goes on trial on charges related to an alleged plot to attack the power grid to provide cover for an assassination campaign.
Raw Story exclusively reported that federal prosecutors notified the court that they found documents that appeared to be classified materials on devices seized from Jordan Duncan, the ex-Marine, following his arrest. In February 2021, the government notified the court that authorities were reviewing Duncan’s electronic devices for evidence of potential violations of federal law that criminalize mishandling government records and sensitive national defense information.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Kocher told Judge Richard E. Myers II during a Classified Information Procedures Act hearing on Friday that the government will refrain from making references to the materials during the upcoming trial of Duncan.
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Duncan is charged along with co-defendant Liam Collins with conspiracy to illegally manufacture and transport firearms and conspiracy to damage an energy facility. The two men could face up to 25 years in federal prison if convicted.
Duncan was arrested outside of his workplace at a U.S. Navy contractor in Boise, Idaho, in October 2020 as part of an FBI takedown of five young, white men with military ties who the government alleges relocated to Idaho to carry out a terror campaign to instigate a race war.
Kocher told the court on Friday that following Duncan’s arrest, authorities found classified materials on two hard drives seized from Duncan’s apartment in Boise, as well as an additional document that was classified. A previous court filing by Duncan’s lawyer had only referenced the materials as being found on a single hard drive.
Raymond C. Tarlton, Duncan’s lawyer, told Raw Story after the hearing that he does not expect the government to bring separate charges against his client related to the materials. But Don Connelly, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, later clarified to Raw Story that the only agreement that the government made in court on Friday “was that classified documents won’t be referred to during the trial.”
Duncan, who has been detained since his 2020 arrest, was led into the courtroom in handcuffs and shackles while wearing a tan New Hanover County jail jumpsuit and round glasses. A tattoo of a coiled snake was visible on his forearm.
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In a protective order issued last week, Myers designated the classified documents as “particularly sensitive discovery materials,” prohibiting Duncan’s counsel from disseminating them to the media, and placing strict controls on showing them to potential witnesses. The protective order indicated that those documents labeled “FOUO,” or “For Official Use Only,” would receive the “particularly sensitive discovery materials” designation.
“This stuff came from the internet, not from his military service or through security clearances issued to him through his employment with a defense contractor,” Tarlton told the court.
Myers conferred in his chambers with Kocher and another federal prosecutor for closed-door hearing so that the prosecutors could describe the contents of the classified materials. Afterwards, Judge Myers reported in open court that he received a proffer from the government that the materials were not relevant to the trial, and they have no intention of discussing acquisition of the materials in front of a jury.
Concerns about sensitive national security materials falling into the hands of domestic extremists were highlighted earlier this year with revelations that Massachusetts National Guard airman Jack Teixeira [sp] shared classified documents about the war in Ukraine on a Discord server.
Meanwhile, during Duncan’s detention hearing in late 2020, a Naval Criminal Investigative Services investigator testified that Duncan amassed a library of documents with information about explosives, car bombs and chemical weapons. Kocher noted to the court shortly after the classified materials were discovered that “the defendants engaged in substantial sharing of other information.”
