BOSTON– A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to leaking highly classified military documents about the war in Ukraine.

Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty earlier this year to six counts of intentionally retaining and transmitting national defense information under the Espionage Act following his arrest in the most consequential national security case in years. He was brought into court wearing an orange jumpsuit and showed no visible reaction as he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani.

At the beginning of the hearing he apologized to the judge.

Prosecutors had originally requested 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.”

Defense attorneys had asked for an 11-year sentence. In their sentencing memorandum, they acknowledged that their client “made a terrible decision that he repeated for 14 months,” but argued that Teixeira’s actions, while criminal, were never intended to “harm the United States.” He also had no criminal record.

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.

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Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts Air National Guard member who prosecutors say “perpetrated one of the most significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in United States history,” is ready to be sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Boston.

He pleaded guilty in March to six counts of intentionally retaining and transmitting national defense information.

Prosecutors have asked the judge to impose the maximum prison sentence of 200 months (more than 16 years) in prison.

“The harm the defendant caused to national security by his disclosures of national defense information is extraordinary,” prosecutors said in a memo filed before the sentencing hearing. “By posting intelligence products on the social media platform Discord to feed his own ego and impress his anonymous friends, Teixeira caused exceptionally serious damage to the national security of the United States. The scope of his betrayal is stunning.”

The defense asked for the minimum sentence, citing Teixeira’s autism and ADHD. They also argued that he had no intention of harming the country, only educating his online friends about world events.

“Jack is still essentially a child – at the very least, a ‘juvenile delinquent’ – who has his entire life ahead of him,” said defense attorneys Michael Bachrach and Brandan Kelley. indicated in a memorandum presented to the judge before sentencing. “At 22 years old, a sentence of 132 months in prison would give him more than enough time to grow and mature, informed by both his behavior and his punishment.”

“With the support of his family and mental health treatment providers, Jack should have no problem living a productive life within prison and upon his eventual release,” the memo continues.

Teixeira is also currently negotiating a provision for his parallel, but related, military prosecution, according to the memo.

According to the plea agreement signed and filed in court, Teixeira agreed to plead guilty to all six counts accusing him of intentional retention and transmission of national defense information. In exchange, prosecutors agreed not to charge him with additional charges under the Espionage Act.

Teixeira “accessed and printed hundreds of classified documents” and posted images of them on Discord before his arrest in April 2023, a prosecutor said during the plea hearing.

As part of his plea agreement, Teixeira must appear before the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice and return any confidential materials that may remain in his possession.

Federal prosecutors have made clear that Teixeira had no business examining classified information because his low-level job did not require it.

“The defendant’s job was to troubleshoot computer workstations,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Casey said during a hearing in March.

Still, Casey said, Teixeira accessed “hundreds” of classified documents within the secure facility where he worked and “intentionally deleted classified documents and information despite warnings from his superiors to stop.”

Teixeira admitted in court that he knew the documents were marked classified.

Without mentioning specific details, federal prosecutors said Teixeira exposed information about the compromise by a foreign adversary of certain accounts belonging to a U.S. company and information about equipment the United States was sending to Ukraine, how it would be transferred and how it would be used. upon receiving it. Prosecutors said he also published material about troop movements in Ukraine, a plot by a foreign adversary to attack U.S. forces abroad and Western deliveries of supplies to the Ukrainian battlefield.

Teixeira enlisted in the Air National Guard in 2019, according to his service record, and had top-secret security clearance as of 2021, according to the Justice Department.

The Justice Department said it began posting classified documents online in January 2022.

Teixeira will also face a military court martial accused of violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to the United States Air Force.

The US military reserves the right to separately prosecute a service member who has already been convicted in federal court.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.