A former U.S. Army Sergeant has pleaded guilty to attempting to deliver military information to China. The man, Joseph Daniel Schmidt, now faces up to ten years in prison.
Schmidt was an active-duty soldier between January 2015 and January 2020. While serving at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in Washington, he had access to secret and top secret information, the Justice Department explained. Upon leaving the military, Schmidt reached out to the Chinese Consulate in Turkey and later the Chinese security services.
The former soldier traveled to Hong Kong in March 2020 to “provide Chinese intelligence with classified information he obtained from his military service.” Schmidt created “multiple lengthy documents describing various ‘high level secrets’ he was offering to the Chinese government” and “retained a device that allows for access to secure military computer networks and offered the device to Chinese authorities to assist them in efforts to gain access to such networks.”
He remained in China until October 2023, when he was arrested at the airport in San Francisco.
The development is the latest incident of military-linked Americans attempting to share defense information with China. In May, two active-duty U.S. Army soldiers, Jian Zhao and Li Tian, were arrested for allegedly selling classified military information to individuals connected to China.
Zhao and Tian, both stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington, now face charges of transmitting national defense information and theft of government property.
Similarly, three U.S. Army soldiers, one former and two current soldiers, were arrested for their involvement in a scheme involving the transmission of national defense information to China and theft of U.S. government property and bribery.
