Pentagon leak defendant Jack Teixeira pleads guilty, faces years in prison

BOSTON: Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard charged with leaking classified military documents on a social media platform, pleaded guilty on Monday to carrying out one of the most serious US national security breaches in years.

Teixeira, who has remained in custody since his arrest last April, admitted wrongdoing during a hearing in federal court in Boston after striking a plea deal with prosecutors who plan to ask a judge to sentence him to over 16 years in prison.

The 22-year-old pleaded guilty to six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information relating to national defence over a leak last year of a trove of classified records to a group of gamers on the messaging app Discord.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, who heads the US Department of Justice’s National Security Division, at a press conference said the plea “brings a measure of closure to a chapter that created profound harms for our nation’s security.”

The plea deal calls for a sentence of at least 11 years in prison, and prosecutors plan to ask US District Judge Indira Talwani to sentence Teixeira to 16 years, eight months in custody. His sentencing is scheduled for Sept 27.

Before his arrest at his mother’s house in North Dighton, Massachusetts, Teixeira had been an airman 1st class at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, where he worked as a cyber defense operations journeyman, or information technology support specialist.

Despite being a low-level airman, Teixeira held a top-secret security clearance, and starting in January 2022 began accessing hundreds of classified documents related to topics including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to prosecutors.