Ex-soldier indicted for trying to pass U.S. defense info to China
CBSN
A former U.S. Army sergeant faces felony charges after the Justice Department says he attempted to pass sensitive national defense information to China through email.
Joseph Daniel Schmidt, a 29-year-old from Washington state, was arrested Friday and charged with retention of national defense information and attempting to deliver national defense information, for allegedly trying to provide China with defense information after he left the military. Schmidt, an active-duty soldier from 2015 to 2020, had access to secret and top-secret information as part of his assignment in the 109th Military Intelligence Battalion.
After Schmidt left the military, prosecutors allege he reached out to the Chinese Consulate in Turkey and then the Chinese security services via email, offering information about the United States' defense. Shortly after leaving the military in 2020, Schmidt traveled to Hong Kong, where prosecutors allege he retained a device that allows access to U.S. military networks and offered the device to Chinese authorities.
