A former Army sergeant was charged Friday with attempting to provide Chinese officials with classified military intelligence, the Justice Department announced after authorities arrested him at the San Francisco airport.
Chinese President Xi Jinping walks to the Monument to the People's Heroes during a wreath laying ... [+]
Joseph Daniel Schmidt, 29, was indicted on two federal felonies: attempt to deliver national defense information and retention of national defense information, charges that carry maximum sentences of 10 years each in prison and $250,000 fines.
After leaving the Army in 2020, Schmidt allegedly emailed the Chinese Consulate in Turkey and Chinese security services to offer them national defense information, according to the Justice Department.
Schmidt then traveled to Hong Kong in March 2020 and allegedly offered Chinese authorities a device that would allow them to gain access to military computer networks.
“The alleged actions of this former military member are shocking—not only attempting to provide national defense information, but also information that would assist a foreign adversary to gain access to Department of Defense secure computer networks,” Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington Tessa Gorman said in a statement.
Schmidt had access to top secret information during his time as an active duty soldier from January 2015 through January 2020, when he was primarily stationed in a military intelligence unit at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, according to the Justice Department. He was arrested at the San Francisco airport Friday after returning from Hong Kong, and he is scheduled to be arraigned in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California later in the day, the Justice Department said.
Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, 21, was arrested in April after authorities said he posted a trove of classified documents—including those that contained information about the U.S.’s military’s predictions for the Russia-Ukraine war—to Discord, a social media platform. Teixeira pleaded not guilty in July to six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information.
Former Army Sergeant Indicted For Efforts To Give Classified Information To China (ABC News)
Ukraine Leak Suspect Jack Teixeira Pleads Not Guilty To Sharing Classified Documents (Forbes)
US Charges Ex-Soldier For Allegedly Trying To Give China Defense Information (Reuters)