US soldier pleads guilty of selling defence information to China

A US Army soldier and intelligence analyst has pleaded guilty to all charges of disclosing the country’s national defence information to China, the Department of Justice said

“The defendant abused his access to restricted government systems to sell sensitive military information to a person he knew to be a foreign national,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division on August 12.

The US soldier Korbein Schultz has been accused of exporting technical data related to defence articles without a license, conspiracy to export defence articles without a license, and bribery of a public official.

Schultz who held a top secret security clearance – conspired with an individual who lived in Hong Kong “to collect national defence information, including classified information and export-controlled technical data related to U.S. military weapons systems, and to transmit that information” to the Chinese government in exchange for money.”

He was paid USD 42,000 for handing over dozens of classified US military documents to an individual in Hong Kong, whom he believed to be connected to the Chinese government.

The FBI and U.S. Army Counterintelligence Command are investigating the case.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 23, 2025.

He was arrested in March this year and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for conspiracy to obtain and transmit national defence information; 20 years in prison for exporting technical data related to defence articles to China without a license.

He also faces 20 years in prison for conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR); and 15 years in prison for bribery of a public official.

Before he was arrested, Schultz discussed dozens of sensitive and restricted US military documents regarding a variety of US military weapons systems and US military tactics and strategy, including documents containing export-controlled technical data.

Among the items that Schultz collected and transmitted were a document discussing the lessons learned by the US Army from the Ukraine-Russia war, which could be applied to a potential defence of Taiwan.

Other documents included order outlining the deployment of the defendant’s unit to Eastern Europe in support of NATO operations, a publication related to the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, documents relating to Chinese military tactics, the Chinese military’s preparedness, those relating to military exercises and US military forces in the Republic of Korea and the Philippines and a document relating to US military satellites.

Executive Assistant Director Robert Wells of the FBI’s National Security Branch was cited in the US Department of Justice statement noted that Governments like China are aggressively targeting US military personnel and national security information and “we will do everything in our power to ensure that information is safeguarded from hostile foreign governments.”

A US federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant US. Attorney Josh Kurtzman for the Middle District of Tennessee and Trial Attorneys Adam Barry and Christopher Cook of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.