Discord administrator gets 15 years in prison for “one of the most significant leaks” in US history

FBI Director Christopher Wray said his ruling was “a stark warning to all those entrusted with protecting national defense information: If you abuse that trust, you will be held accountable.”

The FBI promises to keep an eye out for further leaks

After Teixeira's crimes were exposed, former classmates of the now 22-year-old spoke out, suggesting that Teixeira had always had a “disturbing” fixation on guns and the military. They claimed he was doing “crazy things” to get attention at school, and that impulse apparently spilled over to Discord, where he found a community hungry for military intelligence that could potentially fuel conspiracy theories.

The DOJ found that Teixeira was warned twice not to take “deep dives” into classified information at his base, but that did not stop him from taking home top-secret documents. Sometimes he would even retype the documents into Discord to cover his tracks, but other times he would upload the documents himself, many of which were clearly marked “top secret.”

Although Teixeira asked Discord members not to share the documents, investigative journalism group Bellingcat found that Teixeira's friends had distributed the documents widely, first on other Discord servers, then on Telegram, 4Chan and Twitter (now called X).

When he eventually lost control of the documents' distribution, Teixeira “took steps to conceal his disclosures by destroying and disposing of his electronic devices, deleting his online accounts, and encouraging his online acquaintances to do the same,” the DOJ said.

The DOJ hopes Teixeira's 15-year sentence will deter future leaks after the incident raised questions about who gets access to the U.S. government's most sensitive documents. As the FBI found, Teixeira had access to the Pentagon's classified documents – including top-secret information about troop movements on specific dates – since he became a low-level computer technician at his base at age 19. Business Insider estimates that more than 2 million workers have similar clearance.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said Teixeira's ruling “demonstrates the seriousness of the commitment to protecting our country's secrets and the security of the American people,” while Wray promised that the FBI would continue to monitor for leaks.

“Jack Teixeira’s criminal conduct has placed our nation, our troops and our allies in grave danger,” Wray said. “The FBI will continue to work diligently with our partners to protect classified information and ensure that those who turn their backs on their country are brought to justice.”