Disaffected Ex-Army Intel Officer Tried Brazenly to Sell Secrets to China, Feds Say
A former U.S. Army intelligence team leader who complained of learning “some really terrible things about the American government” hoarded years worth of national defense secrets and technology that he tried to share with China, according to a newly unsealed federal indictment.
Joseph Daniel Schmidt, 29, has been living primarily in Mainland China and Hong Kong since March 2020, just two months after separating from the military as a sergeant. Safely out of reach for U.S. authorities for more than two years, Schmidt was arrested Friday after landing at San Francisco International Airport. He is charged with attempting to deliver national defense information, and retention of national defense information, each of which carry up to 10 years in prison.
Schmidt’s alleged overtures to the Chinese began with a Feb. 24, 2020 email, according to an FBI affidavit that accompanies a detention motion filed Friday by prosecutors.