Alleged Pentagon leaker pleads guilty in court

Accused Pentagon document leaker Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty Monday to the willful transmission and retention of national security information and accepted a sentence of up to 16 years in prison.

Teixeira changed his plea to guilty in the federal District Court of Massachusetts after initially pleading not guilty last year. The indication that he would switch his plea came after his attorneys filed a notice last week.

As part of the plea agreement, the U.S. will not pursue any further charges against Teixeira under the Espionage Act, according to court documents.

The 22-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guard member was indicted last year on six charges of willful retention and transmission of national security information. In his change of plea hearing Monday, he pleaded guilty to all six counts.

Teixeira also will turn over any classified documents he still has and will meet with Pentagon and intelligence officials.

His agreement with the prosecutors includes a sentencing of 16 years in prison, as recommended by U.S. attorneys, though it is not a final sentencing; Teixeira has agreed not to challenge any sentencing of 16 years or lower.

Teixeira will also be fined $500,000 and undergo 36 months of supervised release.

Teixeira has been held in custody since April. An airman first class, he was serving at Otis Air National Guard Base in Cape Cod when he began leaking classified information to his friends on the social media chat platform Discord.

While he began sharing handwritten transcriptions, Teixeira eventually took photographs of highly classified material to which he had access as a technology staffer.

The files leaked out of Discord and into the wider online community, where they quickly spread across major social media platforms.

Teixeira’s leaking of information regarding U.S. documents about the Russia-Ukraine war and assessments of strategic allies across the world was an embarrassing moment for the Biden administration.

It also spurred the Air Force to discipline 15 people following an investigation into the incident that revealed a failure to properly address warning signs from Teixeira indicating he may have been leaking classified material.