Pentagon Leaker Jack Teixeira Sentenced To 15 Years In Prison

Topline

Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison—a sentence length in between what prosecutors and his lawyers asked for—after agreeing in March to plead guilty to willfully retaining and transmitting national defense information for leaking documents about the Ukraine war and other military topics on Discord, multiple outlets reported.

Key Facts

Teixeira, a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman—who remains in the Guard in an unpaid status, the Associated Press reported—received his sentence of 180 months on Tuesday in Boston.

As part of a plea agreement he accepted in March, Teixeira pleaded guilty to six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information in exchange for federal prosecutors agreeing not to file more charges against him under the Espionage Act.

Teixeira’s lawyers sought the minimum sentence allowed under the plea—11 years—and argued the 22-year-old was remorseful for the harm his actions caused, he still has “his whole life in front of him,” and his “intent was never to harm the United States” but “to educate his friends about world events to make certain they were not misled by misinformation.”

Prosecutors, however, sought the maximum sentence under the plea—almost 17 years—arguing Teixeira “perpetrated one of the most significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in American history” and the harm he inflicted on national security was “extraordinary.”

Key Background

Teixeira became a member of the National Guard in 2019 and worked in an intelligence unit on Cape Cod. He was given a top secret security clearance in 2021 which required him to have “extensive training on the handling of classified information, the damage disclosure of the information could cause, and the criminal penalties he could face for willfully transmitting national defense information,” according to prosecutors. Shortly after he got the clearance, though, Teixeira began writing down information from classified documents and taking pictures of them to post on a private Discord server—reportedly including information on U.S. officials’ predictions for the outcome of the Ukrainian military efforts. Prosecutors said that while he posted the information online “to feed his own ego and impress his anonymous friends,” he “caused exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States” in the process. The information was later shared on other social media platforms, and Teixeira was arrested in April 2023 and has been in federal custody since.

Crucial Quote

“The scope of his betrayal is breathtaking. The amount of damage he caused is immeasurable,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum.

Further Reading