Accused Pentagon leaker pleads guilty, faces almost 17 years jail
BOSTON: The US airman accused of leaking a trove of top secret Pentagon documents pleaded guilty Monday under a deal that saw him sentenced to some 17 years in prison in return for prosecutors dropping more serious espionage charges.
Jack Teixeira, once a low-level Massachusetts Air National Guard IT specialist, was accused of orchestrating the most damaging leak of US classified documents in a decade, some of which concerned the war in Ukraine.
Had he faced charges under the Espionage Act, Teixeira could have been imprisoned for life.
Instead he appeared in a federal court in an orange prison jumpsuit Monday and pleaded guilty to six counts of willful transmission of national defense information.
He will be sentenced to up to 16 years and eight months under the agreement, and must pay a fine of US$50,000 and assist intelligence officials to understand the extent and impact of his disclosures.
Asked by the presiding judge whether he disputed any evidence, Teixeira said he did not. Asked whether he knew the documents were classified, he responded “Yes your honor.”
Teixeira was detained in April 2023 in a dramatic arrest broadcast live on TV networks.
He was accused of posting the documents — some dated as recently as March 2023 — to a private chat group on the social media platform Discord.
Some of the files later appeared on other sites, including Twitter, 4Chan and Telegram.
The documents, which soon spread across the internet, pointed to US concern over Ukraine’s military capacity against invading Russian forces.
They also showed Washington had apparently spied on allies Israel and South Korea, among other sensitive details.