Jack Teixeira, a member of the US Air National Guard who leaked Pentagon paperwork final 12 months in one of the crucial high-profile intelligence instances in recent times, has been sentenced to fifteen years in jail.
Teixeira, 22, pleaded responsible to knowingly retaining and transmitting nationwide protection data in March.
While working at an Air National Guard base, Teixeira obtained supplies together with maps, satellite tv for pc photos and knowledge on U.S. allies, after which posted these paperwork on a web-based platform in style with players.
Among the paperwork shared was categorised details about the struggle in Ukraine.
Prosecutors requested U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to impose a 16 1/2-year sentence on Teixeira. His protection attorneys requested for an 11-year sentence.
In their request for a lenient sentence, Teixeira’s attorneys argued in court docket that the airman had been the goal of bullying whereas in highschool and in his army unit, and that he had suffered from isolation.
Meanwhile, prosecutors requested for an extended jail sentence, saying the airman had “perpetrated one of the crucial important and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in American historical past.”
“Teixeira understood the danger to his nation and did it anyway,” prosecutors informed Judge Talwani on Tuesday.
Passing sentence, Judge Talwani informed Teixeira: “You are younger and you’ve got a future forward of you, however it’s such a severe crime.”
Teixeira apologized in court docket and mentioned he understood that “all of the tasks and penalties fall solely on my shoulders,” in response to reporters on the Boston courthouse.
Teixeira started with a small group of army and gun fanatics on a Discord server, or chatroom, in late 2022. While the paperwork initially remained in that chatroom, the data was later reshared throughout a number of public channels.
The paperwork have been later collected by pro-Kremlin Telegram channels and army bloggers.
Teixeira enlisted within the Massachusetts Air National Guard, a U.S. Air Force reserve, in 2019. In that position, he had a top-secret safety clearance.
To receive this authorization, Teixeira signed a “lifetime binding non-disclosure settlement” acknowledging that “unauthorized disclosure of protected data might lead to legal fees,” in response to court docket paperwork.
The Teixeira leak prompted the Pentagon to look at its methods for dealing with categorised data.
This is a growing story and will likely be up to date
