Ex-U.S. airman Jack Teixeira sentenced to 15 years for leaking classified documents on Discord

Former U.S. Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira received a 15-year sentence in federal prison for leaking classified military documents on Discord, it has been reported.

Teixeira was arrested last year for leaking “hundreds of pages of information online,” which included national security secrets related to both U.S. foreign adversaries and allies, such as Russia, China, Ukraine, and South Korea.

Sentencing hearing is set to begin momentarily for Jack Teixeira of Dighton, who entered a guilty plea earlier this year in top secret document leaking case.
He faces 11 to 17 years in prison.@NBC10 pic.twitter.com/dV4YVhZo9q

— Brian Crandall (@nbc10_brian) November 12, 2024

In March, Teixeira then pled guilty to six counts of “willful retention and transmission of national defense information.” By accepting a plea deal, he managed to have the government’s more severe espionage charges dismissed, thereby avoiding a potentially much longer maximum sentence of 60 years.

According to coverage of the hearing by The Washington Post, Teixeira apologized in a U.S. district court. He told the judge that he was sorry for “all of the harm that I’ve caused to my friends, family and those overseas.”

He added: “All of the responsibility falls on my shoulders. And I accept what that may bring.”

The U.S. attorney’s office requested a 200-month sentence (around 17 years) for Teixeira, the maximum under his plea agreement with federal prosecutors. Judge Indira Talwani highlighted that Teixeira leaked classified documents online despite prior training and warnings about the risks. “Despite that, you posted hundreds of documents over a year,” she stated.

Teixeira’s defense sought a lower sentence, arguing the proposed 200 months exceeded what the government pursued against Julian Assange, accused of releasing a massive cache of classified information.

In late 2022, the accused began sharing classified military documents on a Discord server centered around the game Minecraft. The leaks revealed sensitive details on Ukrainian and Russian troop movements, military equipment, and Russia’s efforts to procure additional weapons from Egypt and Turkey. Over time, the documents spread to other Discord servers, as well as 4chan and Telegram.

He accessed these documents through his role at a Massachusetts military base, intending to impress his younger, military-obsessed friends in a Discord group called “Thug Shaker Central.”

Defense attorney Michael Bachrach argued that Teixeira’s experiences with bullying in high school and his military unit influenced his actions. However, Judge Talwani rejected this claim, noting that the Air Force had already disciplined 15 other members linked to Teixeira for failing to take steps “that might have stopped him from doing this.”

Featured image: Ideogram

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