Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira is sentenced to 15 years in prison for leaking secrets

Jack Teixeira, a Massachusetts Air National Guard member who pleaded guilty to leaking top-secret military documents about the war in Ukraine to a gaming site, was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison.

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.

Additionally, Teixeria was sentenced to three years of supervised release. He also faces a military trial scheduled to take place in March 2025.

Prosecutors asked that Teixeria be sentenced to nearly 17 years in prison on the grounds that he committed “one of the most significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in American history.”

“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 The prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “Teixeira broke his oath almost every day for over a year.”

JACK TEIXEIRA PLED GUILTY TO LEAKING CONFIDENTIAL PENTAGON DOCUMENTS

Teixeira's lawyers called for an 11-year prison sentence for their client in court documents, saying he was “autistic and isolated” when he began sharing classified information with online friends on a Discord server.

“His intent was never to harm the United States,” the lawyers wrote. “Instead, his intention was to educate his friends about world events to ensure they were not misled by misinformation.”

Still, they admitted that Teixeira “made a terrible decision that he repeated for 14 months.”

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

Prosecutors asked for the maximum sentence, saying 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.”

Teixeira, 22, accepted a possible maximum sentence of 16 years after appearing in federal court in Boston in March pleaded guilty to all six counts the storage and transmission of secret information for national defense. In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors agreed not to charge him with further violations of the Espionage Act.

WHO IS JACK TEIXEIRA, THE AIR NATIONAL GUARDSMEN BEHIND THE LEAKED SECRET DOCUMENTS?

Selfie of Jack Teixeira, the 22-year-old National Guard airman accused of leaking classified information. (Facebook)

Teixeira also agreed to attend a debriefing with members of the Secret Service, Defense Department or Justice Department and to hand over any classified materials that may still be in his possession.

Teixeira, of North Dighton, Massachusetts, has been behind bars since his arrest on April 13, 2023, when he was accused of leaking a trove of military secrets online.

He was part of the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts, where he worked as a “cyber transport systems specialist.” He had the federal government's highest security clearance for top secret information.

According to authorities, Teixeira began sharing confidential documents on the online social platform Discord with a private group called “Thug Shaker Central,” which consisted of about 20 to 30 young men.

The leak of a Pentagon document has immediate national security implications: It sucks up “a lot of oxygen.”

This image from video provided by WCVB-TV shows Jack Teixeira, wearing a t-shirt and shorts, being taken into custody by armed tactical agents in Dighton, Massachusetts, on Thursday, April 13, 2023. A leak of top secret military documents appeared on In court Friday as prosecutors unsealed the indictment and revealed how billing records and interviews with social media comrades helped locate the suspect. (WCVB-TV via AP)

The leaked documents mainly concern Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but also contain intelligence information about China, the Middle East, Israel's secret service Mossad and world leaders.

A member of the group told the New York Times that in a conversation, Teixeira seemed resigned to his fate. He said Teixeira recounted: “I never wanted it to happen like this. I prayed to God that this would never happen. And I prayed and prayed and prayed. Only God can decide what happens from now on.”

Teixeira had previously pleaded not guilty to six counts of intentionally storing and disclosing national defense information under the Espionage Act.

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 tightened controls to protect confidential information and The disciplined members found that they had willfully failed to take necessary action due to Teixeira's suspicious behavior.