A United States Army analyst has admitted to conspiring to sell military secrets to China, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
In March, Sgt Korbein Schultz was taken into custody following a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Army counterintelligence probe, which claimed that he received $42,000 in return for numerous sensitive security documents.
Sergeant Schultz, possessing a security clearance for accessing classified information, allegedly collaborated with an individual he believed to be residing in Hong Kong to gather data, as per legal papers.
As documented in court records, the supposed Hong Kong resident purportedly tasked Sgt Schultz with obtaining sensitive information concerning missile defence and mobile artillery systems.
Sgt Schultz gathered information about US fighter aircraft, military strategies, and the defence plans for Taiwan, drawing from insights gained from Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.
“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 Olsen of the DOJ’s National Security Division said.
Sgt Schultz admitted guilt to selling the military secrets on Tuesday for all the charges, which included conspiracy to acquire and reveal national defence information and bribing a public official. The charges against Sgt Schultz, outlined in the indictment, included messages he had sent to an individual identified as Conspirator A in the court documents.
Sgt Schultz expressed a desire to embody Jason Bourne, the fictional spy, in one of his communications. In a separate message, he mentioned his hope of reclaiming his other BMW, following a promise of increased compensation from his handler.
The FBI and US Army Counterintelligence Command are still actively investigating the situation.