Pentagon secret traitor Teixeira faces up to 17 years in prison

BOSTON (AP) — A member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard who pleaded guilty to leaking top-secret military documents about the war in Ukraine is expected to be sentenced in federal court on Tuesday.

Prosecutors have argued that Jack Teixeira should be sentenced to 17 years in prison because he committed “one of the most significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in American history.”

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“As a member of the United States Armed Forces and a permit holder, the defendant took an oath to defend the United States and protect its secrets – secrets critical to U.S. national security and the physical security of Americans serving abroad meaning,” prosecutors wrote. “Teixeira broke his oath almost every day for over a year.”

Teixeira's lawyers will argue that U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani should sentence him to 11 years in prison. In their sentencing memorandum, they admitted that their client “made a terrible decision that he repeated for 14 months.”

“It is a crime that deserves serious consequences,” the lawyers wrote. “Jack has accepted full responsibility for the wrongfulness of his actions and is prepared to accept whatever punishment must now be meted out.”

Teixeira, of North Dighton, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in March to six counts of intentionally storing and disclosing national defense information under the Espionage Act. This came almost a year after his arrest in the most serious national security breach in years.

The 22-year-old admitted that he illegally collected some of the country's most sensitive secrets and shared them with other users on the social media platform Discord.

When Teixeira pleaded guilty, prosecutors said they would seek a prison sentence at the upper end of the sentencing range. But the defense wrote that the 11 years were “serious and sufficient to take into account deterrence considerations and would be essentially half the life that Jack has lived to date.”

His lawyers described Teixeira as an autistic, isolated person who spent most of his time online, particularly with his Discord community. They said his actions, while criminal, were never intended to “harm the United States.” He also had no criminal record.

“Instead, 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.”

But prosecutors countered that Teixeira does not suffer from a mental disability that prevents him from knowing right from wrong. They argued that Teixeira's post-arrest diagnosis of “mild, high-functioning” autism was “of questionable relevance to these proceedings.”

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 leaks 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.

Teixeira, who was part of the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts, worked as a cyber transport systems specialist, essentially an information technology specialist responsible for military communications networks. He remains in the Air National Guard without pay, an Air Force official said.

Authorities said he first typed up classified documents he had accessed and then began sharing photos of files marked “SECRET” and “TOP SECRET.” Prosecutors also said he tried to cover his tracks before his arrest and that authorities found a smashed tablet, laptop and Xbox gaming console in a dumpster at his home.

The leak revealed to the world unvarnished classified assessments of Russia's war in Ukraine, including information about troop movements in Ukraine and the provision of supplies and equipment to Ukrainian troops. Teixeira also admitted to publishing information about a U.S. adversary's plans to harm U.S. forces stationed abroad.