Airman Who Leaked Classified Documents on Discord Sentenced to 15 Years

A national justice connected Tuesday sentenced erstwhile Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira to 15 years successful situation for sharing top-secret accusation astir the warfare successful Ukraine with a radical of disaffected gamers.

The FBI arrested Teixeira, past 21, successful 2023 and accused him of utilizing his top-secret information clearance to entree classified worldly and station transcriptions and pictures of the documents connected a Discord server. He aboriginal pleaded blameworthy to six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information.

The lawsuit raised embarrassing questions for the Air National Guard astir however a inferior serviceman with a past of violent comments—including discussing guns, Molotov cocktails, and making radical threats astatine school—had entree to specified delicate information. The archetypal media reports astir classified documents appearing connected Discord took quality officials by surprise, and a spokesperson for the National Security Council told the New York Times, “We don’t cognize what the motive is. We don’t cognize what other mightiness beryllium retired there.”

The Times aboriginal reported that members of 1 Discord server wherever Teixeira posted the classified documents, called Thug Shaker Central, said Teixeira wanted to thatch the different warfare game-loving posters what warfare was really similar and shared hundreds of documents, including battlefield maps from Ukraine.

Department of Justice officials said that Teixeira obtained the documents from a classified workstation astatine the Otis U.S. Air National Guard Base successful Massachusetts and that immoderate of the pictures helium posted of the documents included marks labeling them “SECRET” and “TOP SECRET.”

An inspector wide investigation conducted aft the apprehension recovered that the Air Force had missed oregon failed to respond to a fig of signs that Teixeira was improperly utilizing his information clearance. On respective occasions members of his portion reported Teixeira for viewing accusation helium didn’t need, but the complaints weren’t decently documented oregon acted upon adjacent aft supervisors had ordered him to halt doing quality “deep dives,” according to the probe report.

“Three individuals successful A1C Teixeira’s supervisory concatenation had accusation astir arsenic galore arsenic 4 abstracted instances of information incidents and imaginable insider menace indicators they were required to report,” the inspector wide concluded. “Had immoderate of these 3 members travel guardant and decently disclosed the accusation they held astatine the clip of the incidents, the magnitude and extent of the unauthorized disclosures whitethorn person been reduced by several
months.”

The Air National Guard disciplined much than a twelve work members pursuing the inspector wide investigation, including Col. Sean Riley, who was removed from bid of the 102nd Intelligence Wing.