A former Army sergeant pleaded guilty this week to two federal charges of attempting to share classified military information with China.
Joseph Daniel Schmidt, 31, now faces up to a decade in federal prison after his plea on Wednesday, June 18. The former Army sergeant served as part of the 109th Military Intelligence Battalion and was stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington. Schmidt pleaded guilty on charges of retaining national defense information and attempting to deliver national defense information to the Chinese state.
Schmidt joined the Army in 2015. According to his case file, his work in military intelligence gave him access to information designated “Secret” and “Top Secret.” He also learned Mandarin as part of his work and also handled surveillance and interrogation. He also described himself as interested in Chinese culture and took a personal trip to China in November-December 2019 before leaving the Army.
Schmidt left active-duty service in January 2020. Soon after he contacted a Chinese consulate in Turkey before flying to Turkey to meet with Chinese contacts. He then later directly emailed Chinese security personnel about information he had related to American national defense.
Two months after leaving the Army, he was on a flight to Hong Kong. According to federal investigators, he took with him a device he kept from the army, which enabled him to access military computer networks, with the intent of offering it up to the Chinese state. According to authorities, he stayed in China, including lengthy periods in Hong Kong, before flying back to the United States in October 2023. He was arrested at the airport when he arrived in San Francisco, two days after he was indicted. He initially pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
His arrest came in part to his search history. Schmidt used Google several times to look up information tied to espionage, searching for topics such as “can you be extradited for treason,” and “soldier defect.” The FBI also asserted that Schmidt took notes on a criminal conspiracy, creating a 22-page document entitled “Important Information to Share with Chinese Government.”
“This was not a lapse in judgment — this individual failed to uphold his oath to defend our nation and to protect the lives of those he served beside,” Brig. Gen. Rhett R. Cox, Commanding General of U.S. Army Counterintelligence Command, said in an Army statement on Schmidt’s guilty plea. “By attempting to provide classified information to China, he put our mission at risk and abandoned his fellow soldiers for personal gain. These actions threaten our national security.”
Schmidt is set to be sentenced on Sept. 9. He faces up to 10 years in prison, as well as a $250,000 fine.
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