American airman who leaked classified Ukraine documents slapped with 15-year sentence

A federal judge sentenced an American airman to fifteen years in prison Tuesday for leaking classified military information related to the war in Ukraine.

Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty to six counts of “willful retention and distribution of highly classified information pertinent to national defense” in March after posting hundreds of restricted Pentagon documents on Discord, including some that described Ukrainian battle positions. Now, the former IT specialist with the Air National Guard’s 102nd Intelligence Wing has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the crime, which is two fewer years than the 17-year sentence that prosecutors originally sought.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry for all the harm that I brought and caused,” Teixeira told the judge before sentencing, according to The Associated Press. “I understand all the responsibility and consequences fall upon my shoulders alone and accept whatever that will bring.”

Teixeira hugged one of his attorneys and flashed a smile at his family after receiving the lengthy sentence, the AP reported.

The security failure embarrassed the Department of Defense (DOD). This also resulted in the Air Force disciplining 15 of its personnel in December 2023 for contributing to a “culture of complacency” that allowed Teixeira to leak sensitive materials. DOD Secretary Lloyd Austin conducted an internal review following the breach that found no systemic counterintelligence weakness. This is despite the probe revealing Teixeira had been allowed to keep his security clearance despite receiving two warnings in 2022 for conducting broad searches in the U.S. intelligence networks and taking notes on classified documents.

The Department of Defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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