From Fox News: A former Army sergeant who once held top secret clearance at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state was sentenced Tuesday to four years in federal prison for attempting to provide national defense information to China.
Joseph Daniel Schmidt, 31, pleaded guilty in June to attempting to deliver and retain classified material, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour also ordered three years of supervised release.
Schmidt’s sentencing comes as U.S. authorities warn of growing efforts by China to recruit or exploit former military personnel with access to sensitive information.
“As a retired Army officer, I find it unconscionable for a former soldier to put his colleagues and country at risk by peddling secret information and intelligence access to a hostile foreign power,” Acting U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd said.
A press release by the Justice Department in June explained the charges against Schmidt:
According to records filed in the case, Schmidt was an active-duty soldier from January 2015 to January 2020. His primary assignment was at JBLM in the 109th Military Intelligence Battalion. In his role, Schmidt had access to SECRET and TOP SECRET information. After his separation from the military, Schmidt reached out to the Chinese Consulate in Turkey and later, the Chinese security services via email offering national defense information.
In March 2020, Schmidt traveled to Hong Kong and continued his efforts to provide Chinese intelligence with classified information he obtained from his military service. He created multiple lengthy documents describing various “high level secrets” he was offering to the Chinese government. He 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.
Schmidt remained in China, primarily Hong Kong, until October 2023, when he flew to San Francisco. He was arrested at the airport.
Former JBLM soldier pleads guilty to attempting to share military secrets with Chinahttps://t.co/zawpqNAjbV pic.twitter.com/yVgkWxD8V4
— National Security Division, U.S. Dept of Justice (@DOJNatSec) June 20, 2025
Full story: https://t.co/V0njaPM86O
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 29, 2025
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In April, another former U.S. Army intelligence analyst, Korbein Schultz, 25, of Wills Point, Texas, was sentenced to seven years in prison for giving sensitive military information to a person he believed was affiliated with the Chinese government.
REPORT: Former US soldier learns fate after selling military docs to Chinese national
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