Jack Teixeira gets 15-year sentence for posting classified military docs on Discord in ‘worst US security leak in years’
AN Air National Guardsman who admitted to leaking highly classified Pentagon documents on a social media group chat has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Jack Teixeira was responsible for one of the most "significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act" in US history when he shared top secret government documents with other users on Discord in April 2023, prosecutors said.
Federal prosecutors said Teixeira "understood the risk to his country and did it anyway."
Teixeira apologized to the court before his sentencing was imposed.
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"I'm sorry for all the harm that I have brought and I have caused," he told Judge Indira Talwani.
"All of the responsibilities and consequences fall on my shoulders.”
Judge Talwani sentenced Teixeira to 15 years, saying that despite his extensive training in handling classified documents and the warning of criminal penalties, he still "posted on the internet hundreds of documents over the period of a year.
"You are young, and you have a future ahead of you, but it is such a serious crime."
'A PERFECT STORM'
Federal prosecutors sought to set an example out of Teixeira and asked the judge for a maximum 17-year sentence.
"Jack Teixeira will be a cautionary tale for anyone in US government or military that if you do this, this is what will happen to you if you betray your oath. They will know his name," prosecutors said.
He is still in the Air National Guard on an unpaid status, per , but will be tried at a military tribunal next year that will ultimately determine whether he remains in the military.
The documents included sensitive information about the support the provided in its ongoing military efforts against .
The information contained details about the US and NATO's plans to help Ukraine prepare ahead of a spring 2023 offensive against Russia and suggested had secretly launched a 6,500 mph hypersonic missile that could beat American defense systems.
Some documents also alleged that Russian President was undergoing chemotherapy treatment and detailed how a British spy plane narrowly avoided being shot down by the Russians due to a missile malfunction.
The leak was eventually traced back to a Discord chat of gamers titled Thug Shaker Central, a group of about 20 to 30 young men and boys.
The oddball Discord group bonded over their love of guns, offensive jokes, and video games after the world went into lockdown during the pandemic.
Members described the group as a "tight-knit family," according to the .
Several members confirmed to at the time that a friend sent the military documents, some of which eventually made their way to a pro-Russian Telegram channel.
Aerial footage of the arrest showed Teixeira, dressed in red basketball shorts and an olive T-shirt, slowly stepping backward to federal agents with his hands behind his head.
Teixeira was immediately handcuffed before he was placed in the back of an armored vehicle.
Moments before federal agents arrived at his home, Teixeira frantically joined a call with his Discord pals and told them, "Guys, it's been good - I love you all," The New York Times reported at the time.
"I never wanted it to get like this. I prayed to God that this would never happen.
"And I prayed and prayed and prayed. Only God can decide what happens from now on," Teixeira added.
Teixeira told his fellow group members to delete the chat and "if anyone asks anything, don't say s**t."
In Teixeira's bedroom that he shared in his mother and stepfather's house, officials uncovered a gun locker just two feet from Teixeira's bed, according to court documents.
Officials discovered several handguns, a gas mask, and bolt-action rifles inside the locker.
FBI agents also found ammunition pouches on his dresser and a military-style helmet in a dumpster.
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In a dumpster near his home, law enforcement officials found a laptop, tablet, and gaming console, all of which were smashed up.
Meanwhile, in his bedroom at his father's house, the walls were decorated with camouflaged print and paper shooting targets.