Classified terrorism information disclosed

Federal officials in Dallas mistakenly disclosed classified counter-terror information in a breach of national security that could also threaten one of the United States’ biggest terror prosecution cases, newly unsealed court records show.

The blunder exposed secret wiretap requests that commonly include classified information from U.S. agencies, foreign intelligence reports and confidential sources.

The case involves officials of the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a now-defunct Islamic charity with alleged ties to terrorists.

Disclosure of the government’s error, which occurred nearly a year ago, came to light when criminal case files were unsealed earlier this week.

The unsealed records, included in boxes of selected classified data turned over to defense lawyers last April, included what a federal prosecutor called “extraordinarily sensitive information.”

However, it was more than four months before FBI agents discovered on Aug. 12 that the documents included unintended and still-secret data not intended for release.

According to a government legal brief filed in the case, the erroneous disclosures represent the first such misstep in the 27-year history of the nation’s top-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court.