Federal prosecutors to recommend 17-year prison sentence for Pentagon secrets leaker

Federal prosecutors plan to recommend a 17-year prison sentence for a Massachusetts Air National Guard member who leaked highly classified military documents related to the War in Ukraine on a Discord server.

Jack Teixeira, who was 21 when he was arrested in April 2023, pleaded guilty to six charges of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act in March. 

Over the course of several months, Teixeira allegedly posted hundreds of pages of sensitive military intelligence, including an assessment of the Russian and Ukrainian militaries, to the Discord group "Thug Shaker Central." The postings went unnoticed for months, but he was eventually warned by his superiors about his handling of classified documents.

Prosecutors argued in a court filing on Tuesday that Teixeira “perpetrated one of the most significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in American history," according to the Associated Press. Teixeira's attorneys are expected to recommend an 11-year sentence.

“As both a member of the United States Armed Forces and a clearance holder, the defendant took an oath to defend the United States and to protect its secrets — secrets that are vital to U.S. national security and the physical safety of Americans serving overseas,” prosecutors wrote. “Teixeira violated his oath, almost every day, for over a year.”

The defense attorneys argued that 11 years is adequate to deter other potential crimes, and would be approximately half of their client's life. They also claimed that although Teixeira broke the law, he did not intend to "harm the United States."

“Instead, his intent was to educate his friends about world events to make certain they were not misled by misinformation,” the attorneys wrote. “To Jack, the Ukraine war was his generation’s World War II or Iraq, and he needed someone to share the experience with.”

Teixeira is scheduled to be formally sentenced on Tuesday, Nov. 12. 

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.