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Pentagon leak damage assessment ongoing
A judge ruled Tuesday over prosecutors' objections that a Defense Department civilian employee who is a U.S.-Turkish dual citizen can remain free on home detention while he awaits trial on accusations he mishandled classified documents.
Gokhan Gun, 50, of Falls Church, Virginia, was arrested Friday outside his home and charged with mishandling classified material, the Justice Department said Tuesday.
When he was arrested, Gun was on his way to the airport for a trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, according to an FBI affidavit. He was carrying papers including a document that was marked "Top Secret."
Gun told authorities he was going to Mexico on a fishing trip. Prosecutors say he agreed to a search of his home. Inside they found other classified documents.
"Among the items recovered from the searches were a Top Secret document and a printout listing Gun's security clearances — both of which were recovered from Gun's backpack," prosecutors said. "Inside the residence, agents also observed stacks of papers among which were multiple documents with visible classification markings, including pages bearing Top Secret and SCI classification markings."
At a detention hearing Tuesday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, prosecutors asked that Gun remain jailed while awaiting trial. They said they may bring additional charges, including possible charges under the Espionage Act, if the ongoing investigation can prove that he not only mishandled classified documents but sought to disseminate documents relevant to the national defense to a foreign power.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Rodregous said the fact that Gun was arrested carrying classified documents, as well as his intelligence-community credentials, on the way to the airport for a purported Mexican fishing trip was circumstantial evidence of his intent to distribute the documents.
"You don't need your intelligence-community credentials to go fishing," Rodregous said.
But U.S. Magistrate Judge Ivan Davis said it was "too far of a leap" to assume that his trip to Mexico was connected to his mishandling of documents. He said until the government provides stronger evidence, the case is no different than any other classified-documents case and the presumption is that Gun should be free while he awaits trial.
Despite Davis' ruling, it appears unlikely Gun will go free anytime soon. Prosecutors indicated they will appeal Davis' ruling to a district court judge, and as a result Davis delayed implementing his order.
Davis also required that Gun be subject to home detention and GPS monitoring if and when he is released pretrial.
Gun is an electrical engineer with the Joint Warfare Analysis Center and has worked there since September. He holds a Top Secret security clearance.
In court papers, prosecutors say he printed out classified documents at his office, often late in the day when co-workers had left, and took them home.
Prosecutors allege that between May 10 and Aug. 7, Gun printed over a dozen documents marked classified. In August, investigators allegedly saw Gun exiting his office "with a bag full of hard copy documents" before going home.
He was born in Turkey and became a U.S. citizen in 2021, according to court papers. In the past 20 years, he has taken 15 overseas trips, including seven trips to Turkey, where his parents live, according to the affidavit.
Gun's attorney, Rammy Barbari, declined comment after Tuesday's hearing.
The hearing unfolded on the same day that an Army soldier pleaded guilty to charges that accuse him of selling China sensitive information related to U.S. military capabilities.