Pentagon leaker to face court-martial

Jack Teixeira had previously pleaded guilty to leaking secrets pertaining to US military activity in Ukraine.

Former member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, Jack Teixeira, who has already pleaded guilty in US federal court to perpetrating what has been described as the largest leak of US secrets in years, will additionally face an Air Force court-martial. The documents he leaked shone a light on US special forces deployment in Ukraine, as well as Washington’s snooping on its own allies.

The 22-year-old, who worked at a Massachusetts air base as an information technology specialist, got his hands on a trove of secret and top-secret documents and leaked them on the messaging app Discord in late 2022. He was arrested in April of last year, in what the media described as the discovery of one of the largest leaks of US secret documents in years.

The data leaked by Teixeira included maps, satellite photographs, and intelligence on US allies. They showed the presence of US special forces in Ukraine and revealed US espionage targeting its allies throughout the conflict. They also highlighted Kiev’s military inadequacies in its preparation for its failed summer counteroffensive.

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Teixeira had pleaded guilty to six counts of retention and transmission of classified defense documents and accepted a 16-year prison sentence in a federal court in March. In exchange, the prosecution did not charge him with additional counts under the US Espionage Act.

The former guardsman will face a court-martial on charges of ignoring orders to stop his digging for secret data, as well as obstructing justice by disposing of hardware after the leaks were discovered, a US Air Force spokesperson said on Wednesday. The trial will take place at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts, at an undetermined date, the statement said.

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The charges were referred to trial at the beginning of July, the Air Force spokesperson added. In a court hearing in May, Teixeira’s lawyers argued that military charges will violate his rights by prosecuting him twice for the same offense.

Another person prosecuted under the US Espionage Act, WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange, obtained his freedom last month, ending a 14-year legal battle. Assange had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate national defense information. He was sentenced to five years – a sentence he has already served in London’s Belmarsh maximum security prison.