A former non-commissioned officer of the US military intelligence services was arrested in the United States on Friday and charged with attempting to provide China with information about national defense, the Department of Justice (DoJ) announced, AFP notes.
Digital espionagePhoto: Mario Martija Sevilla / Alamy / Profimedia Images
The last and primary assignment of Joseph Daniel Schmidt, 29, who served in the Army from January 2015 to January 2020, was with the 109th Military Intelligence Battalion, stationed at Lewis-McChord Air Force Base in Washington state (north west), the DoJ emphasized in a statement.
He is suspected of having, shortly after leaving the army in 2020, “come into contact with the Chinese consulate in Turkey and later with the Chinese security services through an e-mail offering them information about national defense”.
In March 2020, Joseph Daniel Schmidt traveled to Hong Kong, where he allegedly continued his attempts to “provide classified information obtained during his military service to Chinese intelligence services”.
He would have proposed to them in particular a device that he would have kept, allowing access to secure military computer networks, according to the same source.
The former military man “remained in China, mainly in Hong Kong, until he took a flight this week to San Francisco. He was arrested at the airport,” the DoJ said.
“Those entrusted with national defense information have a duty to continue to protect that information beyond their service to the country and certainly beyond our borders,” said DoJ Assistant Attorney General for Homeland Security Matthew Olsen. quoted in the press release.
The former military man is being prosecuted for attempting to deliver national defense information and concealing such information, two charges each punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
In August, two US Navy SEALs working in California were arrested and charged with passing sensitive information to China. (Agerpress)
