B. Stephanie Siegmann, Chair of the International Trade & National Security Practice, shared her perspective about the prosecution and guilty plea of Jack Teixeira with TIME:

She described the potential sentence of 16 years under the plea agreement for the willful retention and transmission of national defense information as one of the longest sentences ever imposed for this type of conduct. “The secrets that he posted about were extraordinary,” Siegmann tells TIME. “The disclosures could have revealed sources and methods, and our intelligence capabilities, to foreign adversaries…it could be a matter of life and death. It was stunning.”

Further, the “fact that so many people were disciplined in the Air Force National Guard in relation to this case shows the message being sent by the military that we will not tolerate this type of behavior and you need to report it,” says Siegmann. “There were a number of warning signs.”