The Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking military secrets online changed his plea to guilty at a federal court hearing in Boston.
Jack Teixeira admitted sharing information about the war in Ukraine and other sensitive topics on the social media platform Discord.
Under the plea agreement struck with prosecutors, Teixeira will spend at least 11 years in prison and up to roughly 17 years. Prosecutors plan to seek the high end of the range, and defense attorneys said they will ask for no more than 11 years.
Teixeira smiled at his father before being led out of the courtroom on Monday with his hands and legs shackled, wearing orange jail garb and black rosary beads around his neck.
"This guilty plea brings accountability and brings a measure of closure to a chapter that created profound harm to our national security," Matt Olsen, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's National Security Division, said at a press conference following Monday's court hearing.
"Mr. Teixeira exploited his position of trust and accessed hundreds of classified documents," U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy added. "He violated his duty to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and he abused his position of trust given to him by the American government."
He called the case "an affront to all those people who serve our country with honor, dedication, integrity and courage" and said Teixeira "will never get a sniff of a piece of classified information" for the rest of his life.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani scheduled sentencing for Sept. 27 and said she would decide then whether to formally accept the deal.
The charges Teixeira faced carried sentences of 60 years in prison, if he'd been convicted in court, and a fine of up to $1.5 million.
Outside court after Monday's hearing, defense attorney Michael Bachrach referred to Teixeira as "a 21-year-old kid," and said his youth played a significant role in the crime he committed.
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"He is significantly remorseful for his conduct, he has accepted full responsibility for his conduct and he will be speaking at the time of his sentencing as well," Bachrach said. He also added that Teixeira's motivation for pleading guilty was "to do the right thing."
Teixeira's family issued the following statement following Monday's hearing:
"To say the events of the past year have been challenging doesn't even scratch the surface of what this family has had to endure. As parents, it is unfathomable to think your child would ever be involved in something so serious, but he has taken responsibility for his part in this, and here we are. However, what remains are more questions spurred by the shocking details revealed by the Inspector General's investigation of the 102nd Intelligence Wing on how the lackadaisical work atmosphere, lack of adequate training and oversight, combined with a complete disregard for policy and procedure 'directly and indirectly contributed' to what happened. The issues described are not new problems at the base; they are woven into the fabric of the culture. We hope the IG report is taken seriously by the Air Force and the leadership at the 102nd Intelligence Wing and substantive changes are made to stop this from ever happening again. Our focus now remains on Jack – his protection, health, and well-being, and taking care of whatever is in his best interest. Beyond anything, Jack is a beloved son, brother, nephew, and friend. But above all, Jack is a good person. As always, we ask for your continued respect for the privacy of this family."
Teixeira, a 22-year-old from North Dighton, Mass., had been working at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod since 2019. He was arrested by the FBI last April at his Dighton home.
The leak led the Pentagon to tighten controls to safeguard classified information, and the Air Force disciplined 15 personnel as its inspector general found last year that multiple officials intentionally failed to take required action about Teixeira’s suspicious behavior.
With his guilty plea Monday, NBC10 Boston Legal Analyst Michael Coyne said the sentencing guidelines will give Teixeira credit for cooperation, but it will ultimately be up to the judge to decide how long his sentence will be.
"He had to take a hard look at the evidence, he and his lawyers, and realize the likelihood of finding him not guilty was low, and so at the end of the day, whatever he can fashion from a plea deal is probably better than what he would have gotten had he gone to trial, lost and been convicted," said Coyne.
Teixeira remains in the Air National Guard in an unpaid status, an Air Force official said.
In exchange for Teixeira guilty plead, prosecutors agreed not to charge him with further Espionage Act violations. As part of the deal, Teixeira must participate in a debrief with members of the intelligence community, the Defense Department and the Justice Department about the leaks.
Teixeira has been behind bars since his April arrest. The judge denied his request for release from jail last year after prosecutors revealed he had a history of violent rhetoric and warned that U.S. adversaries who might be interested in mining Teixeira for information could facilitate his escape.
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Teixeira was part of the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts when authorities say he illegally collected military secrets and shared them with other users on Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games. Teixeira worked as a “cyber transport systems specialist,” essentially an IT specialist responsible for military communications networks.
Authorities said he first typed out classified documents he accessed and then began sharing photographs of files that bore SECRET and TOP SECRET markings. The leak exposed to the world unvarnished secret assessments of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the capabilities and geopolitical interests of other nations and other national security issues.
Prosecutors have said little about an alleged motive. But members of the Discord group described Teixeira as someone looking to show off, rather than being motivated by a desire to inform the public about U.S. military operations or to influence American policy.
"Motivation is not an element of a crime we need to prove, so I'm not going to speculate on exactly what his motivation was," Levy said Monday. "That's something he truly knows."
Prosecutors have said Teixeira continued to leak government secrets even after he was warned by superiors about mishandling and improper viewing of classified information. In one instance, Teixeira was seen taking notes on intelligence information and putting them in his pocket.
The Air Force inspector general found that members “intentionally failed to report the full details” of Teixeira's unauthorized intelligence-seeking because they thought security officials might overreact. For example, while Teixeira was confronted about the note, there was no follow up to ensure the note had been shredded and the incident was not reported to security officers.
It was not until a January 2023 incident that the appropriate security officials were notified, but even then security officials were not briefed on the full scope of the violations.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
