GEEKY LEAKER GUILTY
Cops secret-spill plea
Baby-faced Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira copped a plea deal Monday that could land him more than 16 years behind bars for committing one of the most serious national security breaches in years.
The disgraced former Massachusetts Air National Guardsman, 22, entered federal court in Boston shackled and dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and nodded to his family before the proceeding, according to a Washington Post reporter on X.
Teixeira then pleaded guilty to all six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information against him — charges that could have ended with him serving up to 60 years in prison.
Teixeira’s family later issued a statement seemingly blaming his National Guard unit and its “lackadaisical work atmosphere, lack of adequate training and oversight, combined with a complete disregard for policy or procedure” for his actions.
Prosecutors have said the explosive case was not about espionage but instead a badly misguided lowlevel airman who wanted to impress his online gaming buddies, boasting he had top-security clearance on “stuff for Israel, Palestine, Syria, Iran and China,” The New York Times reported.
But the risk posed by Teixeira — who led a chat room on Discord that he dubbed “Thug Shaker Central” — was grave, the feds said.
Among the data he was accused of sharing were top-secret Pentagon documents detailing intelligence assessments of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including “how the equipment would be transferred, and how the equipment would be used upon receipt,” a federal indictment shows.
Teixeira acknowledged in court that he abused his security clearance to transfer classified documents from government computer networks and to print out and photograph classified documents, which he then posted on Discord.
The defendant was arrested in April at his mother’s home in North Dighton, Mass., after the secret information started to spread online.
His guilty plea Monday marked a reversal from last year, when he pleaded not guilty to the charges.
A federal judge is set to formally sentence him in September. The judge is expected to follow the plea deal’s guidelines in terms of how much jail time Teixeira could get, given the pact has already been signed off on by authorities, including top US intelligence officials, the Times said.
Under the deal, Teixeira also will be charged a $50,000 fine and face three years of supervised release once he gets out of federal prison.
He was ordered to have a debriefing with members of the Department of Defense and Justice Department, and to return any national security documents that may still be in his possession, according to the court documents.