boston — A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced a Massachusetts Air National Guard member to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to leaking highly classified military documents about the war in Ukraine.  Jack Teixeira pleaded guilty earlier this year to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act following his arrest in the most consequential national security case in years. Brought into court wearing an orange jumpsuit, he showed no visible reaction as he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani.  Before being sentenced, he apologized for his actions.  "I wanted to say I'm sorry for all the harm that I brought and caused," Texeira said, referencing the "maelstrom" he caused to friends, family, and anyone affected overseas. "I understand all the responsibility and consequences fall upon my shoulders alone and accept whatever that will bring," he said, standing as he addressed the judge.  Afterward, Teixeira hugged one of his attorneys and looked toward his family and smiled before he was led out of court.  The security breach raised alarm over America's ability to protect its most closely guarded secrets and forced the Biden administration to scramble to try to contain the diplomatic and military fallout. The leaks embarrassed the Pentagon, which tightened controls to safeguard classified information and disciplined members found to have intentionally failed to take required action about Teixeira's suspicious behavior.  Earlier in Tuesday's hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Dolan argued that 200 months — or a little more than 16 1/2 years — was appropriate given the "historic" damage caused by Teixeira's conduct that aided adversaries of the United States and hurt the country's allies. He also said that the recommendation by prosecutors would send a message to anyone in the military who might consider similar conduct.   "It will be a cautionary tale for the men and women in the U.S. military," Dolan said. "They are going to be told this is what happens if you break your promise, if you betray your country. ... They will know the defendant's name. They will know the sentence the court imposes."  But Teixeira's attorney Michael Bachrach told the judge in court Tuesday that 11 years was sufficient.  "It is a significant, harsh and difficult sentence, one that will not be easy to serve," Bachrach said. "It will serve as an extreme deterrent to anyone, particularly young servicemen. That is enough to keep them deterred from committing serious conduct."  'His intent was to educate' Teixeira, of North Dighton, Massachusetts, had pleaded guilty in March to six counts of the willful retention and transmission of national defense information under the Espionage Act. That came nearly a year after he was arrested in the most consequential national security leak in years.  The 22-year-old admitted that he illegally collected some of the nation's most sensitive secrets and shared them with other users on the social media platform Discord.  When Teixeira pleaded guilty, prosecutors said they would seek a prison term at the high end of the sentencing range. But the defense wrote in their sentencing memorandum earlier that the 11 years is a "serious and adequate to account for deterrence considerations and would be essentially equal to half the life that Jack has lived thus far."  His attorneys described Teixeira as an autistic, isolated individual who spent most of his time online, especially with his Discord community. They said his actions, though criminal, were never meant to "harm the United States." He also had no prior criminal record.  "Instead, his intent was to educate his friends about world events to make certain they were not misled by misinformation," the attorneys wrote. "To Jack, the Ukraine war was his generation's World War II or Iraq, and he needed someone to share the experience with."  Prosecutors, though, had countered that Teixeira does not suffer from an intellectual disability that prevents him from knowing right from wrong. They argued that Teixeira's post-arrest diagnosis as having "mild, high-functioning" autism "is of questionable relevance in these proceedings."  Teixeira, who was part of the 102nd Intelligence Wing at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts, worked as a cyber transport systems specialist, which is essentially an information technology specialist responsible for military communications networks. He remains in the Air National Guard in an unpaid status, an Air Force official said.  Authorities said he first typed out classified documents he accessed and then began sharing photographs of files that bore SECRET and TOP SECRET markings. Prosecutors also said he tried to cover his tracks before his arrest, and authorities found a smashed tablet, laptop and an Xbox gaming console in a dumpster at his house.  The leak exposed to the world unvarnished secret assessments of Russia's war in Ukraine, including information about troop movements in Ukraine, and the provision of supplies and equipment to Ukrainian troops. Teixeira also admitted posting information about a U.S. adversary's plans to harm U.S. forces serving overseas. 

Malta ESG Alliance holds ISIMGħUNA conference to bring children and national leaders together to talk about the country's future

Should North Korea ever have the capacity to launch a nuclear missile that could reach the U.S. mainland, Trump would have approximately ten minutes to react and make a decision to counterattack.

Donald Trump promises 'deportation force' to remove 11 million undocumented immigrants

While reports in Israel assess that Hezbollah may have lost 80 percent of its rocket arsenal and also lost 2,000 fighters, Hezbollah is putting on a brave face, claiming Israel is far from its goals.

Afghanistan's Taliban to attend their first UN climate conference

At least three killed in Israeli strike on Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp

The 15 August 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan devastated the lives of millions of Afghans. But the rights and freedoms of women and girls in particular have been progressively trampled by a series of edicts that have created a virtual system of gender apartheid.

Children in northern Syria are suffering from hunger, illness, and malnutrition as a result of poverty, poor living conditions for most families, and the collapse of purchasing power amid the soaring prices of all essential food commodities. Displacement and a lack of job opportunities make this worse. Nour al-Hammoud, a 5-year-old girl whose family was […]

Michael Jackson’s pal Donny Osmond shares reason of their close bonding Michael Jackson and Donny Osmond had quite a similar family background. The Puppy Love crooner made an appearance in MTV Entertainment Studios documentary Larger than Life: Reign of the Boybands, where...

This study examines the impact of economic development in forestry on the indigenous people who have traditionally lived in and obtained their livelihood from the forest. It takes villages in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, as a case study.

This paper examines the impact of family size on children's education in the Philippines.

Horses experience hyperflexion, or rollkur, when their necks bend far towards their chests – it could place the animal at a greater risk of physical discomfort and stress

Horses that are bred to race seem to perform better on the course if they had a diverse gut microbiome as foals

Blackworms are ultra-fast swimmers, and they tangle up into worm balls to protect themselves from predators – but leeches have an ingenious method of catching them called “spiral entombment”

From birds and bats to horses and great apes, Bill Schutt's seriously fun history of teeth, Bite, explains their role in both shaping evolution and our understanding of it

Up to 100,000 extraordinary species, from spiders and beetles to salamanders and fish, live in subterranean caves and cracks. They aren’t as safe down there as we thought

These images are taken from a new book, Seeds: Time capsules of life, which explores how plant life has flourished in the past 360 million years

In most vertebrates, a pattern of chemical marks on the genome is a reliable indicator of age, but in axolotls this clock seems to stop after the first four years of life

Dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico have tiny bits of plastic in their breath, and this is probably a worldwide problem

The oriental hornet shows no ill effects – or behavioural changes – when it spends a week drinking an 80 per cent alcohol solution

Not all winged dinosaurs were necessarily capable of full flight, but this anatomical feature may have enabled them to travel further by flapping or gliding

Rival tribes of bacteria armed with poison darts are fighting it out in your gut, with armies of traitors often winning the day

Single-celled organisms called archaea can become multicellular when compressed, highlighting the role of physical forces in evolution

Experiments where vampire bats were made to run on a treadmill have revealed how they extract energy from protein in their latest blood meal

Up to 100,000 extraordinary species, from spiders and beetles to salamanders and fish, live in subterranean caves and cracks. They aren’t as safe down there as we thought

Cosmological puzzles are tempting astronomers to rethink our simple picture of the universe – and ask whether dark matter is even stranger than we thought

A contentious meeting of physicists highlighted concerns, failures and possible fixes for a crisis in condensed matter physics

Subatomic particles can appear to instantly influence one another, no matter how far apart they are. These days, that isn't a source of mystery – it's a fact of the universe and a resource for new technologies

When I heard Stephen Hawking extol the mysteries of black holes, I knew theoretical physics was what I wanted to do. There is still so much to learn about these strange regions, says Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

An experiment to test distant particles’ ability to correlate their behaviour is one of the strongest pieces of evidence that classical ideas about reality are incorrect

If gravity is a truly quantum entity, something as simple as measuring the strength of an object’s gravitational field should change its quantum state

Shapes created by vortices in water often fall apart, but an odd quantum fluid made from ultracold atoms could support vortex knots that never lose their knottiness

Experiments where vampire bats were made to run on a treadmill have revealed how they extract energy from protein in their latest blood meal

Shapes created by vortices in water often fall apart, but an odd quantum fluid made from ultracold atoms could support vortex knots that never lose their knottiness

We are living in a vaccine-hesitant moment, with conspiracy theories thriving on social media. We need to push back, says Simon Williams

In the foundations of a Maya temple, researchers found the charred bones of royal individuals – possibly evidence of a fiery ritual to mark the end of one dynasty and the beginning of another

Babies cannot tell us what they are experiencing, so it is hard to know what they are conscious of. But new research suggesting they perceive the world consciously could change how we care for them, says Claudia Passos-Ferreira

Title: Doctors' Religious Beliefs Can Color Their Care of Terminally Ill
Category: Health News
Created: 8/26/2010 2:10:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 8/27/2010 12:00:00 AM

Title: Today's Parents Less Able to Spot Obesity in Their Kids: Study
Category: Health News
Created: 8/25/2014 9:35:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/25/2014 12:00:00 AM

Title: Overconfident Folks May Blind Others to Their Real Abilities
Category: Health News
Created: 8/27/2014 2:36:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 8/28/2014 12:00:00 AM

Title: Parents' Fights May Strain Bonds With Their Kids
Category: Health News
Created: 8/28/2014 5:36:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 8/29/2014 12:00:00 AM

Title: Most U.S. Babies Get Their Vaccines: CDC
Category: Health News
Created: 8/28/2014 4:36:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 8/29/2014 12:00:00 AM

Title: Many Parents Put 'Food Pressure' on Their Kids, Study Finds
Category: Health News
Created: 8/25/2015 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/25/2015 12:00:00 AM

Title: American Kids Growing Fatter Than Their Canadian Cousins
Category: Health News
Created: 8/25/2015 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/26/2015 12:00:00 AM

Title: New Moms Can Avoid Back Injury When Caring for Their Babies
Category: Health News
Created: 8/25/2015 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/26/2015 12:00:00 AM

Title: Coronavirus' Weird Trip Inside Cells Might Be Its Undoing, Scientists Say
Category: Health News
Created: 8/24/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/24/2020 12:00:00 AM

Title: AHA News: Helping Fathers Connect With Their Kids, Involved Dad's Name Says It All
Category: Health News
Created: 8/26/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/27/2020 12:00:00 AM