Air Force Vet Stands Trial in Brooklyn for Trying to Join the Islamic State

The trial of Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh, a US Air Force veteran accused of trying to join the Islamic State, begins in Brooklyn, New York on Monday.

Though the US government has accused more than 75 individuals of involvement with the Islamic State, Pugh is only the second person to actually plead not guilty and proceed to a trial.

The 48-year-old was first detained by Turkish authorities in Istanbul in January 2015, then deported back to Egypt, where Pugh had been living for a year. The Egyptians then deported him to the US, and he was arrested a short time later by the FBI in New Jersey. US investigators say they found a letter to Pugh's Egyptian wife on his computer declaring his intention to defend the Islamic State, and saying he had only two options: "Victory or Martyr." Prosecutors also claim to have discovered approximately 180 jihadist videos on Pugh's laptop, including one that showed Islamic State militants executing several prisoners.

At the time of Pugh's initial indictment, in March, 2015 Attorney General Loretta Lynch was serving as US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, where she helped spearhead the investigation. "Born and raised in the United States, Pugh allegedly turned his back on his country and attempted to travel to Syria in order to join a terrorist organization," she said at the time.

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Court records later revealed that Pugh has been on the radar of authorities for 15 years. According to court documents, he served as an avionics specialist in the Air Force from 1986 to 1990 and moved to San Antonio around 1998, when he converted to Islam and developed an interest in Islamic terrorist groups. In 2001, while Pugh was working as a mechanic for American Airlines, a co-worker tipped off the FBI that Pugh had expressed support for Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. Then in 2002, an associate of Pugh's told the FBI that Pugh expressed interest in traveling to Chechnya to participate in the Islamist insurgency against the Russian military there. It's unclear why the federal government didn't move against Pugh at the time. But nearly eight years later Pugh found work as an army contractor. From 2009-2010 he worked on aircraft avionics as an Army contractor for DynCorp International in Iraq.

Before Pugh, only one other Islamic State-related case made it to trial. Earlier this month, Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem, who is accused of plotting with others to attack a Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest in Texas, went on trial in Phoenix. Two of his alleged associates were killed in a shootout with police outside the event.

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In Pugh's case, the US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis has taken the rare step of agreeing to seal the courtroom during the testimony of an undercover FBI employee in order to protect his identity. An audio feed of the testimony will be broadcast for the public in a separate courtroom, Garaufis said in a court order.

Pugh is charged with attempting to provide material support to a terrorist group and with obstructing a federal investigation. His lawyer has entered a plea of not guilty, and opening statements are scheduled to begin on Monday morning in Brooklyn federal court. If convicted, he could face up to 35 years in prison.

Reuters contributed to this report