BOSTON–A Member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard who pleaded guilty to leaking highly classified military documents about the war in Ukraine will be sentenced in federal court on Tuesday.

Prosecutors have argued that Jack Teixeira should be sentenced to 17 years in prison, saying he “perpetrated one of the most significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in United States history.”

“As a member of the United States Armed Forces and as a warrant holder, the defendant swore an oath to defend the United States and protect its secrets, secrets that are vital to the national security of the United States and the physical safety of Americans. who serve abroad,” prosecutors wrote. “Teixeira violated his oath, almost every day, for more than a year.”

Teixeira’s lawyers will argue that U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani should sentence him to 11 years in prison. In their sentencing memorandum, they acknowledged that their client “made a terrible decision that he repeated for 14 months.”

“It is a crime that deserves serious consequences,” the lawyers wrote. “Jack has fully accepted responsibility for the wrongfulness of his actions and is willing to accept whatever punishment is now imposed on him.”

Teixeira, of North Dighton, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in March to six counts of knowingly retaining and transmitting national defense information under the Espionage Act. That came nearly a year after he was arrested in the biggest national security breach in years.

The 22-year-old admitted that he illegally collected some of the country’s most sensitive secrets and shared them with other users on the social media platform Discord.

When Teixeira pleaded guilty, prosecutors said they would seek a prison term at the high end of the sentencing range. But the defense wrote that an 11-year sentence would be “serious and appropriate to take into account deterrence considerations and would essentially amount to half the life Jack has lived thus far.”

His lawyers described Teixeira as an isolated, autistic individual who spent most of his time online, especially with his Discord community. They said his actions, while criminal, were never intended to “harm the United States.” He also had no criminal record.

“Instead, his intention was to educate his friends about world events to ensure they were not misled by misinformation,” the attorneys wrote. “For Jack, the war in Ukraine was his generation’s Second World War or Iraq, and he needed someone to share the experience with.”

Prosecutors, however, responded that Teixeira does not suffer from an intellectual disability that prevents him from distinguishing right from wrong. They argued that Teixeira’s diagnosis of “mild, high-functioning” autism after the arrest “is of questionable relevance to this process.”

The security breach raised alarm about the United States’ ability to protect its best-kept secrets and forced the Biden administration to scramble to try to contain the diplomatic and military fallout. The leaks embarrassed the Pentagon, which stricter controls to safeguard classified information and disciplined members He was found to have intentionally failed to take required action regarding Teixeira’s suspicious behavior.

Teixeira, who was part of the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts, worked as a cyber transportation systems specialist, which is essentially an information technology specialist responsible for military communications networks. Remains in the Air National Guard without pay, and air forces the official said.

Authorities said he first wrote classified documents that he accessed and then began sharing photos of files that were marked SECRET and TOP SECRET. Prosecutors also said he tried to cover his tracks before his arrest, and authorities found a smashed tablet, laptop and Xbox gaming console in a trash bin at his home.

The leak exposed to the world unvarnished, secret assessments of Russia’s war in Ukraine, including information about troop movements in Ukraine and the provision of supplies and equipment to Ukrainian troops. Teixeira also admitted to publishing information about a U.S. adversary’s plans to harm U.S. forces serving abroad.

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