Jack Teixeira, who grew up in North Dighton, is responsible for one of the most damaging document leaks in U.S. history. The Massachusetts Air National Guardsman was arrested by FBI officers in April 2023 and pleaded guilty to federal charges in March 2024. Teixeira also faces military charges, which could result in additional jail time and a dishonorable discharge.
Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guardsman who leaked highly classified military documents about the war in Ukraine, on Tuesday was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said Teixeira’s crimes seriously undermined national security and were an assault on U.S. service members around the world.
The 22-year-old from North Dighton worked as a cyber transport systems specialist in the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base and was responsible for military communications. He admitted to sharing hundreds of classified documents — along with racist and sexist memes — on a Discord chatroom. Discord is a social media platform popular with gamers and used primarily by young men, including gun and military enthusiasts like those who made up Teixeira’s group. The documents migrated to other social media sites and eventually to pro-Russian military bloggers.
Teixeira was arrested in April 2023. He accepted a plea agreement in March, pleading guilty to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act.
Addressing the court moments before he was sentenced, Teixeira apologized for the harm he had caused. “All of the responsibility and consequences fall on my shoulders. … I’m at your mercy, your honor,” he said.
The government recommended a sentence of nearly 17 years. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Dolan said that Teixeira had “directly aided our adversaries and damaged our alliances.”
Defense attorneys countered that Teixeira’s autism contributed to his behavior and asked the court to consider a lesser sentence. Defense attorney Michael Bachrach said that his client was more like an adolescent and did not intend to inflict harm.
But U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said the seriousness of the offenses warranted a sentence closer to the prosecutors’ recommendation outlined in a memorandum to the court.
U.S. prosecutors compared the case to those of Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, who all leaked classified information. Teixeira’s attorney called it an unfair comparison.
“Their conduct was much worse. Their conduct was intentional. His was not,” Bachrach said to reporters outside the Moakley Federal Courthouse.
Levy said Teixeira over the course of a year exposed documents, some marked “TOP SECRET,” including troops’ movements in Ukraine, secret maps, and precise details about the provision of supplies and equipment to Ukrainian troops. Levy said Texiera also endangered the lives of U.S. personnel overseas when he shared information about a plot to kill Americans by a foreign adversary.
“This conduct caused immediate operational damage and long-term enduring damage to our relationships with our allies, to our ability to gather information by revealing intelligence gathering methods and through other consequences,” said Levy in a press briefing that followed the sentencing.
Judge Talwani agreed with the defense request to have their client serve out his sentence at FMC Devens or another federal facility in Massachusetts.
Teixeira’s father, mother and step-father sat quietly in the courtroom as the sentence was read. They left without speaking to reporters.
