Prosecutors Seek 17-Year Sentence for Pentagon Leaker Jack Teixeira
Prosecutors Seek 17-Year Sentence for Pentagon Leaker Jack Teixeira
The Facts
Earlier this year, he pleaded guilty to six counts under the Espionage Act for the willful retention and transmission of national defense information.US prosecutors will seek a nearly 17-year prison sentence for Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guard member who admitted to leaking highly classified military secrets on Discord, a messaging and communication platform popular with gamers.
In a sentencing memorandum filed Tuesday, prosecutors recommended a 200-month sentence — equivalent to 16 years and eight months — arguing that Teixeira "perpetrated one of the most significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in American history."Teixeira, who was a cyber transport systems specialist for the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts, was arrested in April 2023 after he was identified as the leaker.
The Spin
Teixeira took an oath to defend the US as well as its military secrets — secrets that are vital to US national security and the physical security of personnel serving overseas. In breaking that oath, doing so almost daily for a span of a year, Teixeira committed one of the biggest violations of the Espionage Act in American history. His actions demand strong consequences, both for himself and as a message to other potential leakers.
While Teixeira's actions were wrong and misguided, they were not motivated by malice but rather by a desire to connect with friends he had made online, borne out of his autism. He is a youthful offender who has his whole life to look forward to. A lesser sentence would be more than sufficient for him to mature and pay the price for what he did — responsibility for which he has already acknowledged.
