Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira sentenced to 15 years in prison on federal charges

Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard who prosecutors say “committed one of the largest and most consequential violations of the Espionage Act in American history,” has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release.

Judge Indira Talwani handed down the sentence Tuesday in federal court in Boston.

Teixeira pleaded guilty in March to six counts of willful possession and transmission of national defense information.

Prosecutors had asked the judge to impose the maximum sentence of 200 months in prison, or more than 16 years in prison.

“The harm the defendant has caused to national security as a result of his disclosure of national defense information is extraordinary,” prosecutors said in a memorandum filed before the sentencing hearing. “By posting intelligence products on the social network Discord to feed his own ego and impress his anonymous friends, Teixeira caused particularly serious harm to the national security of the United States. The scale of his betrayal is breathtaking .”

The defense asked for the minimum sentence, citing Teixeira’s autism and ADHD. They also argued that he did not intend to harm the country, but only to inform his online friends about world events.

“Jack is still essentially a child — at the very least, a ‘juvenile delinquent’ — who has his entire life ahead of him,” defense attorneys Michael Bachrach and Brandan Kelley said in a memorandum presented to the judge before the pronounced sentence. . “At 22 years old, a 132-month prison sentence would give him ample time to grow and mature, informed by his behavior as well as his punishment.”

“With the support of his family and mental health providers, Jack should have no difficulty leading a productive life in prison and after his eventual release,” the memorandum continued.

Teixeira is also currently negotiating a decision regarding his parallel, but related, military prosecutions, the memo said.

According to the signed plea agreement filed with the court, Teixeira agreed to plead guilty to all six counts accusing him of willful withholding and transmission of national defense information. In exchange, prosecutors agreed not to charge him with additional counts under the Espionage Act.

Teixeira “accessed and printed hundreds of classified documents” and posted images of them on Discord before his arrest in April 2023, a prosecutor said during the plea hearing.

As part of his plea agreement, Teixeira must participate in a debriefing with the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice and return any sensitive documents that may remain in his possession.

Federal prosecutors made clear that Teixeira did not have to review classified information because his low-level job did not require it.

“The defendant’s job was to troubleshoot computer workstations,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Casey said during a March hearing.

Yet, Casey said, Teixeira accessed “hundreds” of classified documents inside the secure facility where he worked and “deliberately deleted classified documents and information despite warnings from his superiors to stop” .

Teixeira admitted in court that he knew the documents were classified.

Without giving details, federal prosecutors said Teixeira disclosed information about a foreign adversary’s compromise of certain accounts belonging to a U.S. company and information about what material the U.S. was sending to Ukraine, how it would be transferred and how it would be used upon receipt. Prosecutors said he also published information about troop movements in Ukraine, a plot by a foreign adversary to attack U.S. forces abroad and Western deliveries of supplies to the Ukrainian battlefield.

Teixeira enlisted in the Air National Guard in 2019, according to his service record, and had a top secret security clearance as of 2021, according to the Justice Department.

The Justice Department said it began posting classified documents online in January 2022.

Teixeira will also face a military court-martial on charges alleging he violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to the U.S. Air Force.

The U.S. military reserves the right to separately prosecute a service member who has already been convicted in federal court.