US Army intelligence analyst pleads guilty to selling military secrets to China

WASHINGTON: A US Army intelligence analyst on Tuesday (Aug 13) pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to sell military secrets to China, the Department of Justice said.

Korbein Schultz was charged in March with conspiracy to disclose national defence information, exporting defence 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 defence information, including classified information and export-controlled technical data related to US 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 defence of Taiwan, documents relating to Chinese military tactics, and a document relating to US military satellites were among the items collected and sent by Schultz.

Schultz was paid approximately US$42,000 for the information, according to the department.

"By conspiring to transmit national defence 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.