By Steve Neavling
A Massachusetts Air National Guardsman charged with leaking highly sensitive U.S. intelligence documents pleaded guilty Monday as part of a plea agreement.
Jack Teixeira, 22, agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of between 11 and 16 years in prison, Reuters reports. He also pledged to reveal in detail what he disclosed on social media.
In exchange, prosecutors agreed not to charge Teixeira with additional violations of the Espionage Act, which could have significantly increased his sentence.
He pleaded guilty to six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information related to national defense after he posted secret intelligence reports online.
At a news conference, Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said the plea “brings a measure of closure to a chapter that created profound harm for our nation’s security.”
Teixeira is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 27.
Before he was arrested, Teixeira worked as a cyber defense operations journeyman at Otis Air National Guard Base in Cape Cod.
Teixeira called himself “OG” on Discord, where he posted photos and near-verbatim transcripts of classified documents.
He told members of a Discord group that he brought the documents home from his job.
