Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to leaking classified military documents related to the Ukraine war to gaming sites.
He appeared in court wearing an orange jumpsuit and showed no visible reaction as U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani handed down his sentence. At the beginning of the hearing, he apologized in front of the judge.
In addition, Teixeria was sentenced to three years of supervised release. He also faces a military tribunal scheduled to be postponed to March 2025.
Federal prosecutors had asked for Teixeria to be sentenced to nearly 17 years in prison, saying he “committed one of the most serious and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in U.S. history.”
“Today, Mr. Teicheria paid a very high price for his violation of the law and the incredible harm he caused,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said at a news conference. “Starting tomorrow, I hope that Jack Teixeria's name will be mentioned when people are trained on the severity and consequences of leaking top secret information.”
Jack Teixeira pleads guilty to leaking classified Pentagon documents
This artist's depiction shows Jack Teixeira (right) of the Massachusetts Air National Guard appearing in U.S. District Court in Boston on April 14, 2023. (AP)
Teixeira's lawyer said in court documents that his client was “autistic and isolated” when he began sharing sensitive information with online friends on a Discord server, and sentenced his client to 11 years in prison. demanded punishment.
“His intent was never to harm the United States,” the lawyers wrote. “Instead, his purpose was to educate his friends about world events so they would not be misled by misinformation.”
Still, they acknowledged that Teixeira “made poor decisions that were repeated over a 14-month period.”
“This is a crime that deserves serious consequences,” the attorneys wrote. “Jack fully accepts responsibility for the wrongfulness of his actions and is prepared to accept any punishment that may be imposed.”
In seeking the maximum sentence, prosecutors said Teixeira does not suffer from an intellectual disability that prevents him from knowing right from wrong. They argued that Teixeira's post-arrest diagnosis of “mild high-functioning autism” has “questionable relevance to these proceedings.”
Teixeira, 22, accepted a possible maximum sentence of 16 years in prison after appearing in federal court in Boston in March. Pleaded guilty to all six charges Maintaining and transmitting classified national defense information. In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors agreed not to further charge him with violating the Espionage Act.
A US Air Force official told Fox News: “We are aware of the Department of Justice's disposition of this case. The plea agreement is currently being reviewed by the Department of the Air Force.”
Who is Jack Teixeira, the Air National Guard agent behind the leak of classified documents?
A selfie of Jack Teixeira, a 22-year-old National Guard Airman accused of leaking classified information. (Facebook)
Teixeira also agreed to attend briefings with members of the intelligence community, the Pentagon and the Justice Department, and to hand over any classified material he may still have.
Teixeira, a resident of North Dighton, Massachusetts, has been in custody since his arrest on April 13, 2023, on suspicion of leaking vast amounts of military secrets online.
He was assigned to the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts, where he worked as a “cyber transportation systems specialist.” He held the highest level of security clearance granted by the federal government for top secret information.
Authorities said Teixeira began sharing classified documents on the online social platform Discord with a private group called Thug Shaker Central, which was made up of about 20 to 30 young people.
Pentagon document leak has immediate national security implications: Breathing in 'a lot of oxygen'
This image created from video provided by WCVB-TV shows Jack Teixeira wearing a T-shirt and shorts being taken into custody by armed tactical personnel on Thursday, April 13, 2023, in Dighton, Massachusetts. Shown. Prosecutors were in court Friday to unveil charges in the leak of classified military documents, revealing how claims records and interviews with social media associates helped identify the suspect. (WCVB-TV via AP)
The leaked documents mainly concerned Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the movement of troops in the Ukrainian theater, and the provision of supplies to the military, but also included information about China. middle east, Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and world leaders.
“This action caused immediate operational damage and long-term, lasting damage to our relationships with allies, our intelligence gathering capabilities by exposing our intelligence gathering methods, and other consequences,” Levy said.
One member of the group told the New York Times that during the conversation, Teixeira seemed resigned to his fate. He said Teixeira “never wanted this to happen. I prayed to God that this would never happen. And I prayed and prayed and prayed. It's up to God to decide what's going to happen.” Only,” he said.
Teixeira had previously pleaded not guilty to six counts of knowingly retaining and transmitting national defense information under the Espionage Act.
“He did this to boost his ego, impress his anonymous friends, and set the record straight about Russia's invasion of Ukraine,” said Jodi Cohen, FBI special agent in charge of the Boston field office. he said.
The security breach has raised alarm over America's ability to protect its most closely guarded secrets and forced the Biden administration to scramble to contain the diplomatic and military fallout. The leak embarrassed the Pentagon. strict control protect confidential information, disciplined members It was revealed that the team intentionally failed to take necessary measures regarding Teixeira's suspicious behavior.
Authorities said Teixeira first typed out a confidential document that he accessed on Discord. An online user known to have interacted with Teixeira told the FBI that he feared an online user known to have interacted with Teixeira could get into trouble for “copying texts at work.” He became concerned that this was the case, and then began sharing photos of files marked with SECRET and TOP SECRET marks. Court documents.
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Prosecutors said the leaker tried to destroy evidence before his arrest and that authorities found a shattered tablet, laptop and Xbox game console in a trash can at the home.
The leak exposed Russia's secret assessment of the war in Ukraine to the world, including information about troop movements in Ukraine and the provision of supplies and equipment to the Ukrainian military. Teixeira also admitted to posting information about U.S. enemies' plans to harm U.S. forces serving overseas.
Fox News Digital's Stephen Sorace and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
