Prosecutors sought 17 years in prison for “significant” violations of the Espionage Act.

Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts National Guard, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for leaking classified documents about the war in Ukraine and other military secrets.

A federal judge in Boston, United States, sentenced the 22-year-old on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty earlier this year to six counts of intentionally retaining and transmitting national defense information under the Espionage Act.

Prosecutors had asked for a 17-year sentence for Teixeira, saying he “perpetrated one of the most significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in United States history.”

“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 serving abroad,” prosecutors wrote. “Teixeira violated his oath, almost every day, for more than a year.”

The breach raised questions about the US’s ability to protect secrets

Teixeira, from North Dighton, Massachusetts, was part of the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base, located on Cape Cod.

He worked as a cyber transportation systems specialist, essentially an information technology specialist responsible for military communications networks.

Authorities said he shared the classified documents on the messaging app Discord.

Teixeira began by writing copy that he later posted online.

He later photographed the files, some of which were marked “SECRET” and “TOP SECRET.”

The documents included information about allies and adversaries, including troop movements in Ukraine and top-secret information about Israel’s Mossad spy agency. Teixeira also admitted to publishing information about a U.S. adversary’s plans to harm U.S. forces serving abroad.

The breach raised questions about the United States’ ability to protect its secrets and embarrassed President Joe Biden’s administration, which rushed to contain the diplomatic and military fallout.

Teixeira’s lawyers asked for a lighter sentence of 11 years, arguing that their client had no political agenda and was not working as a spy for a foreign government. In their sentencing document, they acknowledged that their client had “made a terrible decision that he repeated for 14 months.”

“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.”

They noted that Teixeira had never before been convicted of a crime.

But prosecutors responded that Teixeira did not suffer from any intellectual disability that would prevent him from knowing right from wrong, adding that his post-arrest diagnosis of “mild, high-functioning” autism was of “questionable relevance” to the case.

“I wanted to say, ‘I’m sorry.'”

Teixeira apologized in court for his actions before being sentenced by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani.

“I wanted to say, ‘I’m sorry for all the harm I brought and caused,’” Texeira said, referring to the “maelstrom” he caused family and friends.

“I understand that all responsibility and consequences fall solely on my shoulders and I accept whatever that brings,” he said. Teixeira hugged one of his lawyers, looked at his family and smiled before being led out of the courtroom.

He cannot be charged with any other violations of the Espionage Act under the terms of his guilty plea.