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Korbein Schultz was charged in March with conspiracy to disclose
national defense information, exporting defense articles and
technical data without a license, and bribery of a public
official.
Schultz, who held top secret clearance, conspired with an
individual who lived in Hong Kong, whom he suspected of being
associated with the Chinese government, to collect national
defense information, including classified information and
export-controlled technical data related to U.S. military
weapons systems, in exchange for money, according to charging
and plea documents.
"Governments like China are aggressively targeting our military
personnel and national security information and we will do
everything in our power to ensure that information is
safeguarded from hostile foreign governments," FBI Executive
Assistant Director Robert Wells said in a statement.
Before he was arrested, he sent dozens of sensitive and
restricted - but unclassified - military documents, the
Department of Justice said.
A document discussing the lessons learned by the Army from the
Russia-Ukraine war that it would apply in a defense of Taiwan,
documents relating to Chinese military tactics, and a document
relating to U.S. military satellites were among the items
collected and sent by Schultz.
Schultz was paid approximately $42,000 for the information,
according to the department.
"By conspiring to transmit national defense information to a
person living outside the United States, this defendant
callously put our national security at risk to cash in on the
trust our military placed in him," Assistant Attorney General
Matthew G. Olsen said.
Schultz is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 23, 2025.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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