US pilot sentenced to 15 years in prison for Pentagon leaks

A US federal judge has sentenced an Air National Guard member to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to leaking top-secret Pentagon documents about the war in Ukraine.

Jack Teixeira, 22, pleaded guilty earlier this year to six counts of intentionally storing and disclosing national defense information under the Espionage Act following his arrest in 2023.

While working as an information technology specialist at an Air National Guard base in Massachusetts, Teixeira used his top-secret security clearance to collect and share military information on Discord, an online platform popular with gamers.

At the end of 2022, he first typed up documents and then published photos of files marked “SECRET” and “TOP SECRET”.

The leaks revealed secret assessments of Russia's war in Ukraine, including information about troop movements and the supply of supplies and equipment to Ukrainian troops.

The documents were picked up by pro-Kremlin Telegram channels and military bloggers.

Teixeira also admitted to publishing information about a U.S. adversary's plans to harm U.S. forces stationed abroad.

On Tuesday, he was brought into court in Boston, Massachusetts, wearing an orange jumpsuit and showed no visible reaction as he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani. At the start of the hearing he apologized to the judge.

“I wanted to apologize for all the harm I have caused and caused,” Texeira said, referring to the “madrum” he caused among friends, family and all those affected abroad.

“I am aware that all responsibility and consequences rest solely on my shoulders and I accept everything that this will entail,” he added, addressing the judge.

Prosecutors had originally sought a 17-year sentence for him, saying he had committed “one of the most significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in American history.”

The defense had requested an eleven-year prison sentence. In their sentencing report they admitted that their client “made a terrible decision and repeated it for 14 months”.

However, they argued that Teixeira's actions, while criminal, were never intended to “harm the United States.” He also had no criminal record.

The security breach raised concerns about 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 revelations embarrassed the Pentagon, which tightened controls to protect classified information and accused disciplined members of deliberately failing to take necessary action over Teixeira's suspicious behavior.

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Texeira joined the Air National Guard, a U.S. Air Force reserve, in 2019.

His lawyers described him as an autistic, isolated person who spent most of his time online, particularly with his Discord community.

“His intent was to educate his friends about world events to ensure that they were not misled by misinformation,” the lawyers wrote.

“For Jack, the Ukraine War was the Second World War or the Iraq of his generation, and he needed someone to share that experience with.”

Prosecutors countered in court papers that Teixeira does not suffer from an intellectual disability that would prevent him from knowing right from wrong, adding that his post-arrest diagnosis of “mild, high-functioning” autism was of “questionable relevance” to the case. be.

They also said he tried to cover his tracks before his arrest and that authorities found a broken tablet, a laptop and an Xbox gaming console in a trash can at his home.

Teixeira remains in the Air National Guard without pay, an Air Force official said.

Additional reporting by Associated Press