US: Accused Pentagon leaker pleads guilty, faces almost 17 years jail

The US airman accused of leaking top secret Pentagon documents online pleaded guilty in federal court Monday under a deal in which he accepted a roughly 16-year imprisonment in return for prosecutors dropping more serious espionage charges.

Jack Teixeira, appearing in an orange prison jump suit, pleaded guilty to six counts of willful transmission of national defence information, but if the deal worked out between prosecutors and the disgraced serviceman's lawyers he faces no espionage charges.

He will be sentenced to up to 16 years and eight months under the agreement, and must pay a fine of $50,000 and assist intelligence officials to understand the extent and impact of his disclosures.

The Massachusetts Air National Guard IT specialist was arrested in April for allegedly orchestrating the most damaging leak of US classified documents in a decade, some of which concerned the war in Ukraine.

Had he faced charges under the Espionage Act, Teixeira could have been imprisoned for life.

Asked by the presiding judge whether he had any dispute with the evidence, Teixeira said he did not. Asked whether he knew the documents were classified, he responded "Yes your honour."

Teixeira is accused of posting the documents — some dated as recently as early March 2023 — to a private chat group on the social media platform Discord.

Some of the files later appeared on other sites, including Twitter, 4Chan and Telegram.

The documents, which soon spread across the internet, pointed to US concern over Ukraine's military capacity against invading Russian forces and showed Washington had apparently spied on allies Israel and South Korea, among other sensitive details.

It was the biggest such breach since the 2013 dump of National Security Agency documents by Edward Snowden and raised tough questions about access by Teixeira and other junior staffers to high-level secrets.

Teixeira was an airman first class — the third-lowest rank for enlisted US Air Force personnel— and had possessed a top secret security clearance since 2021.

In May 2023 a judge ordered that Teixeira remain in jail after prosecutors argued he posed an ongoing risk to American national security.

Prosecutors said Teixeira might still have access to classified documents and that "hostile" nations could aid his escape if he was released from prison.