young American soldier pleads guilty to leaking secret defense documents

A young American soldier, arrested in 2023 for a leak of classified defense documents, pleaded guilty on Monday March 4, sealing an agreement for 16 years in prison against the abandonment of the most serious prosecutions for espionage. The secret documents had revealed US intelligence concerns about the viability of a Ukrainian counter-offensive. They also implied that Washington was collecting intelligence on its closest partners, notably Israel and South Korea.

Hired as a specialist in IT and communications, Jack Teixeira had published this confidential information on a discussion group on the Discord platform. They subsequently circulated on other social networks. The federal police (FBI) arrested him on April 13, 2023 outside his family home in Dighton, south of Boston, a few days after the revelations of these leaks in the American press.

An agreement that allows him to escape life imprisonment

Jack Teixeira, 22, appeared in federal court in Boston wearing an orange inmate’s outfit. He admitted to disseminating information relating to American national defense, but prosecutors will not charge him with espionage, which could have earned him life in prison. “Mr. Teixeira coldly set aside the national security of the United States and betrayed his solemn oath to defend his country and the trust of the American people he was sworn to protect.”declared in a press release from the American Department of Justice its deputy minister, Matthew Olsen.

By reaching a court agreement, the Air Force National Guard recruit escaped a criminal trial. On the other hand, he will be sentenced by a judge to 16 years and eight months in prison, a $50,000 fine and will have to help intelligence officials understand how the leak was possible.