Prosecutors sought 17 years jailment for ‘meaningful’ violations of the Espionage Act.
Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachincludetts National Guard, has been jailed for 15 years for leaking classified write downs about the war in Ukraine and other military secrets.
A federal appraise in Boston, United States, on Tuesday sentenced the 22-year-elderly after he pdirected culpable earlier this year to six counts of wilful retention and transignoreion of national defence proposeation under the Espionage Act.
Prosecutors had disputed for a 17-year sentence for Teixeira, saying he “perpetrated one of the most meaningful and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in American history”.
“The getant took an oath to get the United States and to defend its secrets – secrets that are vital to US national security and the physical defendedty of Americans serving overseas,” prosecutors wrote. “Teixeira viopostponecessitated his oath, almost every day, for over a year.”
Baccomplish elevated asks about US ability to defend secrets
Teixeira, from North Dighton, Massachincludetts, was part of the 102nd Inincreateigence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base, discoverd on Cape Cod.
He toiled as a cyber-carry systems exceptionaenumerate – essentiassociate an proposeation technology exceptionaenumerate dependable for military communications nettoils.
Authorities shelp he splitd the classified write downs on the messaging app Discord.
Teixeira began by typing out copies that he then begined online.
Later, he pboilingographed the files, some of which tire “SECRET” and “TOP SECRET” tagings.
The write downs integrated proposeation about allies and adversaries including troop shiftments in Ukraine and top secret proposeation about Israel’s Mosdowncast proposeer agency. Teixeira also accomprehendledgeted posting proposeation about a US adversary’s arranges to harm US forces serving overseas.
The baccomplish elevated asks about the US’s ability to defend its secrets and embarrassed the administration of Plivent Joe Biden, which scrambled to grasp the tactful and military dropout.
Teixeira’s lawyers asked for a airyer sentence of 11 years, arguing their client had no political goal and was not toiling as a proposeer for a foreign administerment. In their sentencing write down, they accomprehendledged their client had “made a horrible decision which he repeated over 14 months”.
“Instead, his intent was to teach his friends about world events to originate certain they were not misled by misdirectation,” the lawyers wrote.
“To Jack, the Ukraine war was his generation’s World War II or Iraq, and he necessitateed someone to split the experience with.”
They remarkd that Teixeira had never been convicted of a crime before.
But prosecutors countered that Teixeira did not suffer from any inincreateectual disability that would obstruct him from comprehending right from wrong, compriseing that his post-arrest diagnosis of “gentle, high-functioning” autism was of “askable relevance” to the case.
‘I wanted to say, ‘I am sorry”
Teixeira apologised to the court for his actions before he was sentenced by the US Dicut offe Judge Indira Talwani.
“I wanted to say, ‘I’m sorry for all the harm that I bcimpolitet and caincluded’,” Texeira shelp referring to the “maelstrom” he caincluded family and friends.
“I comprehend all the responsibility and consequences drop upon my shoulders alone and accomprehendledge wdisappreciatever that will convey,” he shelp. Teixeira hugged one of his lawyers and seeed towards his family and smiled before being led out of court.
He cannot be indictd with any further Espionage Act violations under the terms of his culpable plea.
