Readers might remember a story last year about Massachusetts Air National Guard airman Jack Teixiera, who was caught spreading classified military documents related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on both Minecraft and in a War Thunder Discord purely because he enjoyed the attention it garnered him while he tried to spin his leaks as “evidence” of a nefarious international plot.
Airman Teixiera has now reaped the very stupid whirlwind, as last week he was sentenced to 15 years for his crimes. Teixiera pleaded guilty to six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information relating to national defense, apologizing for the harm he caused. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston, who noted how “unfortunate” it was that others did not stop him sooner in her ruling.
Teixiera also faces military charges by the US Air Force for obstruction of justice and failure to obey an order to cease accessing classified information unrelated to his duties, which defense lawyer Michael Bachrach said were being addressed separately. The Air Force declined to comment about any such plea deal but remarked that he faces court martial in March.
In addition to Teixiera’s prison term, the Air Force acted against other members of the Guard last December, applying varying punishments to 15 other servicemembers associated with Teixiera such as relieving personnel from their positions to non-judicial punishment under Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Colonel Sean Riley, who led the unit which Teixiera belonged, was also relieved of command.
While this sad tale is over, it’s likely not the end of video games being used as a means to gain US military intel, particularly from Russian intelligence operatives. At this point it would almost be nice if gamers used classified docs to argue for tank buffs instead of using them to spread lies about military ops.
