A former Army sergeant who was last assigned at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington and had access to top secret documents was arrested Oct. 6, 2023, on charges of attempting to deliver national defense information to China, the Justice Department said. (Abner Guzman/U.S. Air Force)
Former Army Sgt.
Joseph Schmidt spent his more than three years since leaving the service trying to hand over U.S. defense documents to the Chinese and work for their military or intelligence forces, according to federal officials.
He later switched to attempting to give to those documents to communist-backed publications and find work with companies that he believed were aligned with the Chinese government.
Schmidt, 29, is charged with stealing those military secrets from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
, and will face trial in Seattle, the Justice Department confirmed Wednesday.
His efforts to attract Chinese interest in the stolen documents ended Oct.
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