A Massachusetts Air National Guard member accused of putting hundreds of highly classified Pentagon documents online in part to impress his gamer friends pleaded guilty Monday in exchange for a likely sentence of 16 years in prison.
Jack Teixeira, 22, pleaded guilty to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act, nearly a year after he was arrested in the most consequential national security leak in years.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani scheduled sentencing for September and said she would decide then whether to formally accept the plea deal.
The deal calls for a sentence between 11 years and nearly 17 years. Without the deal, Teixeira could have faced decades in prison, but prosecutors are still requesting a term on the upper end of the range despite the plea.
Teixeira smiled at his father before being led out of the courtroom on Monday with his hands and legs shackled, wearing an orange jail uniform and black rosary beads around his neck.
Prosecutors accused Teixeira of providing classified military documents to Discord, an online chat platform. FBI agents said he disclosed “Top Secret” documents about the status of the Russia-Ukraine war, including troop movements, among other items.
The incident proved a major foreign policy embarrassment for the Biden administration as the revelations continued to tumble out. Many of the documents had been posted online for weeks and months before investigators finally discovered them.
At the time of his April arrest, Teixeira was serving with the Air National Guard’s 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base.
Prosecutors said he viewed hundreds of sensitive documents — including many that were classified as “Top Secret” — between February 2022 and April 2023. He made hundreds of keyword searches to find classified information and solicited requests from his online friends.
As investigators closed in, he began destroying evidence and contacting potential witnesses in what federal prosecutors described as a clear attempt to obstruct justice.
He deleted the social media server where he posted government information, encouraged others to delete evidence that could be used against him and got rid of several electronic devices. He also got a new phone number and email address, according to court papers.
Teixeira has been in prison since his arrest. Prosecutors said it would have been too risky to release him given his history of violent rhetoric and the risk that other countries would try to extract information from him.
• Mike Glenn contributed to this article, which is based in part on wire service reports.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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