An electrical engineer for the Defense Department was arrested Friday, shortly before he was scheduled to board a flight to Mexico, and charged with mishandling more than 150 pages of documents marked highly classified.
Federal prosecutors said Gokhan Gun, a dual citizen of Turkey and the United States, printed numerous records marked “top secret” beginning in May and as recently as Wednesday. He was cleared to access the documents as a member of the Defense Department’s civilian workforce but was not authorized to take them home, authorities said.
Gun had booked an early-morning flight to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and a driver from a ride-hailing service was pulling up to his Falls Church residence when FBI agents moved in with a warrant to search his home Friday, according to court records. They found stacks of papers with classification markings in Gun’s dining room and inside a backpack, an FBI agent said in a court filing.
U.S. officials said Gun printed at least 155 pages from 20 documents stored in a network designated as “top secret” - a level of classification reserved for the most sensitive state secrets. The engineer also took home thousands of pages of unclassified records, which his supervisor said he was allowed to do, authorities said. In court papers, authorities did not indicate Gun’s possible motivation to take the records.
Gun was charged with one count of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material. He made a brief appearance Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, seeming disoriented and repeatedly asking to address the judge. Court records state that in a voluntary interview with FBI agents Friday, “Gun denied ever taking anything classified from his workspace … [and] suggested that, if there were documents with classification markings, the classifications might be expired.”
“This is a surprise, sir, for me,” Gun told Magistrate Judge William B. Porter.
“I don’t understand. Am I allowed to talk?” he said later.
Porter advised him not to make statements until he had a chance to confer with an attorney. A hearing was scheduled for Tuesday to decide whether Gun should remain in jail during pretrial proceedings. “I recognize that this has come as a surprise in the last number of hours,” the judge said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony J. Rodregous argued that Gun should remain in jail because of the gravity of the allegations and because his travel plans showed he could flee the United States if “left to his own devices.”
A public defender assigned to represent Gun during his first appearance, Brittany Davidson, said, “I’m not sure what evidence there really is that Mr. Gun is a substantial risk of flight.” Gun was planning to go fishing in Mexico, she said.
Porter told Gun he would remain in jail at least until the hearing set for Tuesday. Defense Department officials referred questions about the case to the FBI.
U.S. authorities disputed Gun’s claim that all of the documents he possessed were no longer classified, specifically pointing to at least one document found in Gun’s dining room that had been printed out Wednesday.
“The agency that classified that document has confirmed that document bears top secret classification markings and continues to reside in that agency’s top secret reporting repository,” according to the FBI filing. Other records are still being analyzed to determine their classification status, officials said.
Three FBI vehicles and several agents remained at Gun’s residence in Falls Church - a white clapboard house with an American flag planted in the front yard - Friday afternoon as neighbors gathered outside, trying to piece together what had happened in the quiet suburban enclave.
U.S. officials said Gun had taken 15 international trips over the last two decades, including to his native Turkey and other European and Middle Eastern countries. The trips typically lasted two weeks, they said. Gun became a naturalized U.S. citizen on July 4, 2021, and records show he owns at least three homes in Virginia as well as properties in the Miami area and Texas.
On Wednesday, Gun printed out 82 pages that “matched the titles of intelligence products on the top secret network” and were marked “top secret,” the FBI said in a charging document. He then traveled to a home he owns in Fairfax, where agents observed him “operating what appeared to be two cellphones simultaneously, as he held one phone up to his ear while looking at another.” Gun had not been issued a work phone, the agents said.
Gun faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted, but that could change if prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia pursue more charges or obtain an indictment.
Jordan D. Brown contributed to this report.
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