The US government has given 48 classified documents to accused September 11th conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui by mistake in what the judge called a grave security breach, according to court records.
The classified documents - FBI summaries of interviews - then had to be retrieved during several days of searches of Moussaoui's jail cell in Alexandria, Virginia, where he is being held in solitary confinement awaiting trial.
The classified documents were given to Moussaoui, the only person charged in the United States for the hijacked plane attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, by mistake over the past few months as part of the evidence turned over to him by federal government prosecutors.
Moussaoui, who is acting as his own lawyer, is not allowed to see classified documents. A Justice Department official said the government was "quite confident" that Moussaoui never read the documents, which were not stamped "classified."
US District Judge Leonie Brinkema cited the gravity of the security breach in ordering the documents to be retrieved.
The judge said she reviewed two of the documents at issue. "We find that significant national security interests of the United States could be compromised if the defendant were to retain copies of this classified information," she said in her order.
As soon as the government learned of its mistake, it retrieved all of the documents and marked them classified, the Justice Department official said.
"We are quite confident that Moussaoui never saw any of the materials of concern," he said, but added that Attorney General John Ashcroft had asked the FBI to conduct a damage assessment.
The official said the assessment would cover how the mistake had happened and what steps must be taken to make sure it does not occur again.
At least two of the documents were released to Moussaoui in June. The searches of his cell took place in late August and early September, according to the court records.