American intelligence officer Jack Teixeira, who was arrested in April last year for sharing Pentagon documents, has been sentenced to sixteen years in prison. The punishment is part of a settlement reached on Monday American media report. The then 21-year-old Teixeira, who worked at an air base in Massachusetts, shared plans for American arms support to Ukrainian troops via the gaming chat site Discord with his leak.
As part of the settlement, Teixeira will undergo extensive interrogations by the Departments of Defense and Justice and hand over sensitive information in his possession. In return, prosecutors drop a slew of even more serious charges against him. Teixeira's previous attempts to be released on parole failed, and prosecutors say there is a significant chance that foreign powers will pressure Teixeira to share even more classified information with them.
Junior employee
The Teixeira case has sparked a discussion in American defense and intelligence circles about the widespread accessibility of state secrets among military personnel. Teixeira joined the armed forces in 2019 and as of 2021 had access to large amounts of sensitive information that he did not need in his position – Teixeira's job was to fix IT problems.
Prosecutors say Teixeira's executives failed to take adequate action against him. For example, Teixeira was once caught taking notes from a secret meeting, but he was not disciplined, the notes were not destroyed, and security at the air base where he worked was not informed of his behavior. Fifteen employees of the air base where Teixeira worked have been punished for their negligence.
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Reckless conspiracy theorist
Teixeira, who was known as a conspiracy theorist with a deep-rooted distrust of the government, leaked classified information between January 2022 and April 2023. He was able to share the secrets unnoticed with his online contacts in small chat servers for months without them realizing what sensitive data they had in their hands.
Only when the information ended up on pro-Kremlin Telegram channels did alarm bells go off for the authorities. “We have no idea who is behind this, we have no idea what the motive is and we don't know what else has been leaked,” said an American defense spokesperson shortly after the leak was noticed. The authorities then acted quickly: Teixeira was apprehended several hours later at his parents' home by a small army of FBI agents, including armored vehicles and a helicopter.
According to Teixeira's online contacts, his intention was to make an impression with the classified information he had in his hands, not to endanger the security interests of the US and other countries. It is a sign of the recklessness with which Teixeira worked: not as a shrewd spy but as an internet macho.
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