A former U.S. sergeant has pleaded guilty to retaining national defense information and attempting to give the information to China, acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller said on June 18.
Joseph Daniel Schmidt, 31, who served in the 109th Military Intelligence Battalion at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in western Washington, is facing up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
According to the plea agreement, Schmidt was on active duty between January 2015 and January 2020.
Before completing his term of service, he led a team of human intelligence collectors, had access to classified intelligence collection and reporting systems including national defense information, and had a top secret-level security clearance. He sought to defect right after his military discharge on Jan. 8, 2020, the agreement states.
On Jan. 14, 2020, Schmidt took a four-day trip to China. The following month, he flew to Turkey, where he searched online about defection from the United States, and emailed the Chinese consulate offering to share information with a Chinese official in person, according to the agreement.
“I am a United States citizen looking to move to China,” he wrote.
“I also am trying to share information I learned during my career as an interrogator with the Chinese government. I have a current top secret clearance and would like to talk to someone from the government to share this information with you if that is possible.”
After a four-day trip back to the United States in March 2020, Schmidt first went to Hong Kong, and then to Beijing, then back to Hong Kong, where he resided until October 2023, when he went to San Francisco and was arrested at the airport.
While living in China, he made multiple attempts to connect to Chinese officials, including an attempted visit to the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS).
He also emailed two state-owned enterprises, offering an Army PKI card he had retained. The card allows access to the Secret Internet Protocol Routing Network, which the U.S. Defense and State departments use to transmit classified information.
Schmidt also created at least three documents discussing U.S. military intelligence work. In one of the documents, entitled High Level Secrets, he clearly stated his intention for the MSS to receive the document.
Each document was assessed by a U.S. Army official who is qualified and authorized to make classification determinations. Two of the documents were classified at the Secret level, “meaning that the unauthorized disclosure of that information reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage to the national security of the United States,” the plea agreement states.
Information in the third document is unclassified, but is “related to the national defense because it pertains to intelligence activities, including covert actions and intelligence sources and methods,” the agreement reads.
In an email to his sister, Schmidt said he had left the United States “because of a disagreement with American policy.”
Schmidt is set to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour on Sept. 9.
