After pleading guilty in March to 6 counts of willful retention and transmission of nationwide protection data underneath the Espionage Act, former Air Nationwide Guard member Jack Teixeira was sentenced today to 15 years in prison for posting “tons of of pages” of categorized army paperwork on Discord.
A few of the leaked data included sensitive details about troop actions in Ukraine and beforehand unknown details about US intelligence gathering on different international locations like China, Russia, and South Korea.
Whereas stationed at an air base in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Teixeira was granted a High-Secret//Delicate Compartmented Info safety clearance needed for “sustaining and troubleshooting” categorized workstations within the intelligence wing. In response to the DOJ, he “used a safe workstation on the Otis USANG Base to conduct tons of of searches for categorized paperwork containing NDI that have been unrelated to his duties.”
At first, he shared typed-up variations of the categorized paperwork however later posted precise images of the supplies — together with some labeled “High Secret” — after different neighborhood members didn’t pay sufficient consideration to his posts. The New York Times reported {that a} path of digital proof, together with a particular sample on a granite countertop in his childhood house, linked Teixeira to the leaked materials.
“Mr. Teixeira is accountable for partaking in probably the most important leaks of categorized paperwork and knowledge in United States historical past, which resulted in exceptionally grave and long-lasting injury to the nationwide safety of the USA,” Appearing U.S. Lawyer Joshua S. Levy for the District of Massachusetts stated in an announcement.
