DOJ SAYS EX-SOLDIER TRIED TO AID CHINA

A former U.S. Army soldier who fled to Hong Kong has been charged with trying to deliver classified secrets to the Chinese government, according to federal court documents unsealed Friday.

Joseph D. Schmidt, 29, who served in a military intelligence battalion in Washington state, was indicted in Seattle on two counts of violating the Espionage Act. He was arrested this week after flying from Hong Kong to San Francisco and appeared in federal court Friday, the Justice Department said. Each count carries up to 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors accused Schmidt of trying to help the Chinese government after he finished active duty with the Army in January 2020.

During Schmidt’s time in the Army, where he rose to the rank of sergeant, he showed an interest in China and visited in 2017.

During a trip to Istanbul in February 2020, Schmidt tried to contact the Chinese Consulate.

“I also am trying to share information I learned during my career as an interrogator with the Chinese government,” Schmidt wrote, according to court documents. “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.”

While in Turkey, Schmidt searched online for phrases like “turkey extradition military defection,” “can you be extradited for treason” and “what is china’s intelligence agency.”

In March 2020, Schmidt traveled to Hong Kong, where he repeatedly tried to supply China with national security secrets, the court documents said.

That same month, he flew to Beijing and appeared to travel close to the headquarters of China’s intelligence service, according to his Apple Maps history, which the FBI recovered from Schmidt’s iCloud account.