Teixeira sentenced for leaking Pentagon secrets on Discord

The 22-year-old Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira on Tuesday received 15 years behind bars for unlawfully disclosing classified national defense information. He will also undergo three years of supervised release after he leaves prison, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Teixeira is forbidden to have any contact with foreign agents, the DOJ added.

What happened? Teixeira, in 2022 and 2023 leaked several classified documents—several of which were top secret—on Discord, a social media platform popular with video game enthusiasts. The documents discussed, in detail, the Russia-Ukraine war. Much of the information was derived from U.S. intelligence sources, which the DOJ described as classified and sensitive. Authorities arrested Teixeira in April 2023, but not before he deleted his social media accounts, destroyed his personal devices, and encouraged his online acquaintances to do the same.

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta’s report about the Pentagon’s increased security efforts following Teixeira’s leak.