Former JBLM soldiers blame for China for leaking American military secrets; Of offering classified data to agents; 10 years in jail, fine

A former US Army Sergeant, Joseph Daniel Schmidt, 31, who was last posted at the Joint Base Lewis-Maccord (JBLM) in Washington, convicted on Wednesday for attempting to share military information with the Chinese government in the Seattle Federal Court.Schmid accepted two hooliganism charges – trying to give national defense information and maintain such information illegally. He is a fine of $ 250,000 for prison up to 10 years and each charge. US District Judge John C. The sentence has been sentenced for September 9, 2025 before Kafenore.According to court documents, Schmid “was an active-duty soldier from January 2015 to January 2020. His primary assignment was at JBLM in the 109th Military Intelligence Battalion. In his role, Schmidt had access to secret and top secret information. After separating from the army, the Schmid reached the Chinese security services through the Chinese Consulate in Türkiye and later, offering national defense information.,In March 2020, Schmid traveled to Hong Kong and continued his efforts to share classified information, drafted detailed documents underlining American military secrets and maintained the equipment used to reach the safe army network – which he introduced to Chinese authorities.According to the US Department of Justice, he wrote several long documents and presented to the Chinese government, giving details of “high-level secrets”. He also placed a device used to reach a safe military network and introduced them to help Chinese authorities break into those systems.He lived abroad, mainly in Hong Kong, by October 2023 when he returned to America and was arrested when he came to San Francisco Airport.