Gaming, guns and government secrets: how Jack Teixeira’s leaks landed him in prison

A 22-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard will spend the next 16 years in prison after he leaked classified military documents to his friends online, all in an apparent bid to show off.

Jack Teixeira, of North Dighton, Massachusetts, has been in police custody since his arrest last April.

The classified information – which included details of Russia’s ground war in Ukraine, among other national security secrets – constituted “the unauthorized removal, retention and transmission of classified national defense information,” according to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Last summer Teixeira pleaded not guilty to all six charges. Each charge carried a maximum 10 year prison sentence under the Espionage Act.

On 4 March, he changed his plea to guilty and accepted a deal to serve 16 years in prison for leaking the information.

Jack Teixeira

Teixeira comes from a military family and grew up approximately 50 miles south of Boston.

He enlisted in the state Air National Guard in 2019, and obtained a top secret security clearance some time in 2021, according to the Department of Justice. As part of his security clearance he would have understood that leaking any of the information he had access to could result in criminal charges, according to a federal complaint.

Teixeira was stationed at the Otis Air Force Base in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, since May 2022. He served with the 102nd Intelligence Wing as a “cyber transports systems journeyman” – essentially an IT specialist – at the time of the leaks.

His unit reportedly provided worldwide intelligence for combat support and homeland security functions.