Jack Teixeira sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to Pentagon leaks | Pentagon leaks 2023

A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to leaking top-secret military documents about the war in Ukraine.

Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty earlier this year to six counts of intentionally storing and disclosing national defense information under the Espionage Act after being arrested in the most consequential national security case in years. He was brought into court 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.

Prosecutors had originally sought a 17-year sentence for Teixeira, 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 memorandum, they admitted that their client “made a terrible decision that he repeated for 14 months.” However, they argued that Teixeira's actions, although criminal, were never intended to “harm the United States.” He also had no criminal record.

The security breach sparked concerns about the U.S.'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.

At the start of Tuesday's hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Dolan argued that 200 months – or just over 16.5 years – was appropriate given the “historic” harm caused by Teixeira's conduct to the United States' adversaries helped and harmed the country's allies. He also said the prosecutor's recommendation would send a message to any military personnel who might consider similar behavior.

“It will be a cautionary tale for the men and women in the U.S. military,” Dolan said. “They will be told that this is what happens when you break your promise, when you betray your country… They will know the name of the defendant. You will know the punishment the court will impose.”

But Teixeira's lawyer, Michael Bachrach, told the judge in court Tuesday that 11 years was enough.

“It is a significant, harsh and severe sentence that will not be easy to serve,” Bachrach said. “It will be an extreme deterrent for everyone, especially young soldiers. That’s enough to deter them from committing serious behavior.”

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 previously wrote in its sentencing memorandum that the 11 years was a “severe and deterrent appropriate sentence and would be equivalent to essentially half the life 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 he never intended to “harm the United States.”

“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.”

However, prosecutors had countered that Teixeira did not suffer from a mental disability that prevented 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.”

Teixeira, who was part of the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air Force Base in Massachusetts, worked as a cyber transport systems specialist, essentially an information technology specialist responsible for military communications networks. He remains unpaid in the Air National Guard, an Air Force official said.

Authorities said he first typed up confidential 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.