“I learned something terrible about the U.S. government while serving in the military,” he said.
Immediately after discharge from the military, he approached the central intelligence agency and stayed there for more than 3 years.
Responsible for support work at Intae Command under Chinese jurisdiction

The New York Times reported on the 6th (local time) that a reserve soldier from the U.S. military intelligence unit was arrested on charges of passing secrets to the Chinese government.

Joseph Schmidt, 29, who worked for the Washington State Intelligence Company, was indicted in a Seattle court on two counts of violating the Espionage Act. He was arrested after arriving in San Francisco from Hong Kong this week and appeared in court on the 6th. He could face up to 10 years in prison on each charge.

Prosecutors said Schmidt was assigned to support the Indo-Pacific Command, which oversees China, while working at Joint Base Ruthie-McChord, south of Tacoma, and had access to sensitive data. Schmidt was discharged from the military in January 2020.

This indictment makes it clear that a significant amount of confidential information was transferred to China.

Schmidt visited China in 2017 while serving in the military, and did not visit China until after he was discharged.

However, in February 2020, the month after his discharge from the military, Schmidt went to Istanbul and attempted to contact the Chinese consulate. He wrote to the consulate, “I would like to share information I have from my experience as an interrogator for the Chinese government. I currently hold top secret clearance and, if possible, would like to discuss this information with Chinese government officials.”

He added, “I have experience in interrogation training, resource management as a spy coordinator, counterintelligence, and advanced psychological operations strategies.”

Schmidt, who went to Hong Kong the following month, repeatedly tried to pass on national security secrets to China, court documents show.

He visited Beijing at the time and moved near China’s Ministry of National Security, and his visit history is shown on the map on his Apple phone.

Prosecutors said he tried to hand over to China an encryption device that could access military computer networks that he had while serving in the military.

“It’s not easy to say, but while I was in the military, I learned some really terrible things about the U.S. government,” he wrote in a May 2020 email to his sister. He no longer felt safe in the United States and he chose not to support the U.S. government,” he wrote.

Schmidt tried to find a job in China, but failed due to the coronavirus lockdown, and in July 2020, his visitor status extension was canceled due to an “extended stay in Hong Kong.”

Schmidt then wrote in an email to a company under China’s Ministry of Science and Technology that he had confidential information and that he wanted to “strengthen your company’s capabilities and accelerate technological development with my knowledge,” and received a work permit from the Chinese government the following month.

It is unclear why Schmidt returned to the United States, nor is it clear whether he was aware that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was investigating.

Source: Donga