A former U.S. sergeant has pleaded guilty to retaining national defense information and attempting to give the information to China, acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller said on June 18.
Joseph Daniel Schmidt, 31, who served in the 109th Military Intelligence Battalion at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in western Washington, is facing up to ten years in prison and a fine up to $250,000.
According to the plea agreement, Schmidt was on active duty between January 2015 and January 2020.
Before completing his term of service, he led a team of human intelligence collectors, had access to classified intelligence collection and reporting systems including national defense information, and had a top secret-level security clearance. He sought to defect right after completing his term of service on Jan. 8, 2020….