Teixeira pleaded guilty in March to six counts of intentionally retaining and transmitting Department of Defense information in violation of the Espionage Act. He acknowledged that while working as a cyber defense operations officer assigned to the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod, he published hundreds of documents containing classified military information about the Ukraine war and other sensitive intelligence matters. on Discord, a social network. popular platform among gamers. He admitted he knew the information could harm U.S. national security and provide an advantage to foreign adversaries.

As part of a plea agreement, he agreed to participate in a briefing with military and government officials, and to provide any government documents that may be in his possession or control.

In Tuesday’s filing, Teixeira’s lawyers said he attended a nearly four-hour intelligence community briefing and detailed the full scope of his conduct and answered all of the government’s questions.

“His conduct was clearly misguided and ill-advised, but his motives and decisions were naive, not nefarious,” wrote Teixeira’s attorneys, Brendan Kelley and Michael Bachrach. They described Teixeira’s actions as “inexcusable” but said he is “still essentially a child – at the very least, a ‘juvenile delinquent’ – who has his entire life ahead of him.”

The defense argued that an 11-year prison sentence “would give him more than enough time to grow and mature; informed by both his behavior and his punishment.”

But prosecutors argued that Teixeira revealed secrets that are vital to U.S. national security and the physical safety of Americans serving abroad.

“By posting intelligence products on the social media platform Discord to feed his own ego and impress his anonymous friends, Teixeira caused exceptionally serious harm to the national security of the United States,” prosecutors wrote. “The extent of his betrayal is stunning. “The amount of damage he caused is immeasurable.”

Teixeira’s case captured global attention and fueled intense criticism from the Defense Department’s decision to grant Teixeira a high-level security clearance and its failure to detect his online activities for months as he posted classified information, investigated mass shootings and talked about killing people.

In court, when Teixeira pleaded guilty, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Casey told the judge that If the case went to trial, prosecutors were prepared to show that from January 2022 to April 2023, Teixeira conducted hundreds of searches in intelligence databases that were unrelated to his work and I deliberately copied classified information without approval and posted it on Discord. In some cases, Teixeira posted images of the documents, and at other times, he took notes on the documents and then posted that information, Casey said.

Teixeira continued to access information that was not related to his duties “even after his superiors warned him on two separate occasions not to take notes or perform deep analysis for information,” Casey said.

Inspector General of the Air Force issued a report in December 2023, concluding that there was a lack of supervision of Teixeira and that several officials did not take the required measures after becoming aware of his suspicious behavior. As a result, 15 staff members were disciplined last year.

Defense attorneys told the judge that only a summary of the report had been posted online and they were granted permission to file a full, sealed copy on Tuesday. The government also presented sealed documents.

The defense described Teixeira as a bright but socially awkward child who was recently diagnosed with autism. They said he isolated himself during the COVID-19 pandemic and turned to people he befriended online while spending hours alone in his room.

Teixeira’s parents and stepfather wrote letters to the judge supporting him and said they only learned after Teixeira’s arrest that he had been mistreated by his military co-workers.

Teixeira’s mother, Dawn Dufault, said her son faced bullying and harassment from his peers at the Cape Cod military base.

“What we didn’t know was that, at a time when he should have been closely advised and supervised by his superiors, Jack was being thrown into a highly toxic work atmosphere, where military structure and discipline did not exist, where policies and policies were not established. rules. a priority, and no person took a leadership or mentoring position to improve conditions there,” he wrote.

His father, Jack M. Teixeira, wrote to the judge that his son “will always carry the weight of his mistakes, but I believe that he has learned from his actions and can overcome this obstacle to reintegrate into society and do good for himself and for others.” the others.”

You can contact Shelley Murphy at [email protected]. follow her @shelleymurph.