Jack Douglas Teixeira, a former 22-year-old member of the U.S. Air National Guard from North Dighton, Massachusetts, has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for illegally retaining and distributing hundreds of pages of top-secret U.S. National Defense Information (NDI).
The leaked materials were shared on social media between 2022 and 2023, including documents classified as top secret. Teixeira is also prohibited from contact with foreign agents.
Teixeira pled guilty in March 2023 to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information. Arrested in April 2023, he was charged with unauthorized removal, retention, and distribution of classified documents, and was formally indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston in June 2023. Since his arrest, Teixeira has been in federal custody.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland emphasized that Teixeira’s actions, which involved sharing classified national defense details online to impress online friends, resulted in a substantial breach of trust, endangering both U.S. national security and the safety of its allies. FBI Director Christopher Wray also underlined the grave risks posed by Teixeira’s actions, reaffirming the FBI’s commitment to holding accountable those who misuse classified information.
The sentencing represents one of the most significant repercussions for a leak of classified information in recent history. Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy stated that Teixeira’s actions compromised critical defense information, including sensitive details about U.S. allies and intelligence operations, presenting a real threat to both U.S. troops and the intelligence community.
Teixeira’s tenure with the Air National Guard began in September 2019, when he served as a Cyber Defense Operations Journeyman at the Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts. Granted Top-Secret clearance in 2021, Teixeira misused his access by conducting unauthorized searches for classified documents and sharing them online. Despite warnings from his superiors, he continued accessing and disseminating sensitive information, including images of highly classified documents marked “TOP SECRET” and “SECRET,” covering subjects such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and troop movements.
Shortly before his arrest, Teixeira attempted to erase his online activity by destroying devices, deleting accounts, and urging his contacts to do the same. The investigation was led by the FBI’s Washington and Boston Field Offices, with support from other agencies, including the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.
