Young US soldier Jack Teixeira pleads guilty to leaking information, sentenced to 16 years in prison

(Patria) - US Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty and agreed to a 16-year prison sentence for leaking Pentagon information.

The 22-year-old is accused of publishing classified US military documents on the social media platform Discord, reports RFE/RL.

The material included maps, satellite images, and intelligence data about US allies.

He began accessing classified documents in January 2022 and continued even after being reprimanded by superiors in September and October of the same year.

This leak is considered the most serious breach of US national security since the release of more than 700,000 classified documents by WikiLeaks in 2010.

In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors agreed not to charge him with further violations of the Espionage Act.

He has been in custody since April last year. He was a first-class pilot in the Massachusetts National Guard, assigned to an Air Force intelligence unit.

Jack Teixeira, who leaked classified Pentagon documents, is an IT specialist responsible for military communication networks.

Under the username "TheExcaliburEffect," Teixeira shared classified information on Discord and boasted of having access to "things for Israel, Palestine, Syria, Iran, and China."

The leaked documents contained highly classified information about allies and adversaries, with details ranging from troop movements in Ukraine to the Israeli spy agency Mossad.