Joseph Daniel Schmidt, a former U.S. army interrogator and Chinese linguist assigned to the 109th Military Intelligence Battalion at Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington State, has been indicted for alleged violation of the Espionage Act. He is charged with illegally retaining national defense information and attempting to deliver it to a person not authorized to receive it. Specifically, Schmidt is accused of attempting to provide national defense information to China.
Gary A. Warner
reports for
Stars and Stripes. Excerpt:
Quote:A former Army sergeant last assigned at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington with a military intelligence unit with access to top secret documents was arrested Friday on charges of attempting to deliver national defense information to China, the U.S. Justice Department announced.
Joseph Daniel Schmidt, 29, was taken into custody by federal agents at San Francisco International Airport as he arrived on a commercial flight from Hong Kong.
The arrest is based on an indictment issued Oct. 3 by a federal grand jury in Seattle. It charges two felonies: Attempting to deliver national defense information and retention of national defense information. Each charge carries a punishment of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Schmidt was stationed at Lewis-McChord from January 2015 to January 2020, according to FBI reports filed in the case. His primary assignment was the 109th Military Intelligence Battalion. In his role, Schmidt had access to “secret” and “top secret” information.
After Schmidt’s separation from the military in early 2020, he allegedly tried to contact the Chinese consulate in Turkey, according to the FBI report. He later tried to contact Chinese security services directly via email and offered national defense information to them.
In the indictment, the FBI provided examples of emails sent to the Chinese from Schmidt.
“My name is Joe Schmidt. I am a United States citizen looking to move to China. I currently reside in Istanbul and am trying to set up an appointment at the consulate in Istanbul,” Schmidt wrote to the Chinese consulate, according to federal officials.
Schmidt traveled in March 2020 to Hong Kong, where he continued efforts to provide Chinese intelligence services with classified documents obtained while he was serving at Lewis-McChord.
The FBI investigation said Schmidt retained a device that allows for access to secure military computer networks and offered the device to the Chinese to gain access to internal Defense Department networks.
Schmidt remained in China, primarily Hong Kong, until Friday when he flew to San Francisco.
A 21-page
declaration by FBI Special Agent Brandon Tower mentions that Schmidt wrote a 23-page Microsoft Word document titled "High Level Secrets." Tower notes at p. 14 of his declaration:
Quote:The remainder of the "High Level Secrets" document discussed SCHMIDT's training and experience in HUMINT collection; the functions and capabilities of U.S. HUMINT collectors; the curriculum and substance of various Army HUMINT training courses; and tradecraft used by U.S. HUMINT collectors, including information regarding surveillance detection routes, casing for meeting locations, source assessment, and operational testing....
The "operational testing" referred to here is presumably polygraph "testing" of intelligence sources, a common practice in the U.S. intelligence community. It would seem that whatever Schmidt knew about operational source testing has likely been compromised.
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Accused Spy Joseph Daniel Schmidt May Have Revealed Information About Polygraph Practices (Read 491 times)
