SAN FRANCISCO, CA – A man identified as 29-year-old Daniel Joseph Schmidt was arrested by the Department of Justice in San Francisco after his arrival on a flight coming from Hong Kong.
According to the DOJ, the Army veteran was attempting to provide intel to the Chinese government as part his attempt to be welcomed into China.
He is now being charged with Unlawful Retention of Nation Defense Information and Attempting to Deliver National Defense Information. The charging document indicated that Schmidt has reason to believe that his actions would cause injury to the United States.
According to the Daily Caller, the former Sergeant was most recently assigned to the 109th Military Intelligence Battalion at Joint Base McCord in the Seattle-Tacoma area. Per the FBI indictment, Schmidt had access to a wealth of classified information.
“SCHMIDT was assigned to a Human Intelligence (“HUMINT”) squad as a HUMINT Collector and ultimately became a Team Leader of other HUMINT Collectors," the indictment read.
"In this role, SCHMIDT supervised HUMINT collection operations and the production of intelligence reporting, analysis, and the dissemination of intelligence products. SCHMIDT’s work directly supported the Indo-Pacific Command, the U.S. Department of Defense’s geographic combatant command that covers the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean region, including the PRC.
"As a HUMINT Collector and Team Leader, SCHMIDT attended various intelligence-related trainings, including: Advanced and Basic Leader Courses; Counterintelligence Collections; Human Intelligence Collector; Human Intelligence Operation Management; and Human Intelligence Tradecraft. SCHMIDT also attended the Defense Language Institute Chinese-Mandarin training.”
Schmidt made numerous trips to the People’s Republic of China, both while on active duty and after his departure. One of those trips came only six days after he separated from the Army.
In February of 2020, he left the US and went to Istanbul, Turkey, where he spent roughly three weeks. It was during this visit that investigations ramped up surrounding his activities.
While in Turkey, he conducted the following internet searches and site visits:
It was also during this time that he sent the following email to the general account of the Chinese Consulate in Istanbul: “Hello, My name is Joe Schmidt. I am a United States citizen looking to move to China. I currently reside in Istanbul, and am trying to set up an appointment at the consulate in Istanbul.
"I also am trying to share information I learned during my career as an interrogator with the Chinese government. I have a current top secret clearance, and would like to talk to someone from the Government to share this information with you if that is possible.
"My experience includes training in interrogation, running sources as a spy handler, surveillance detection, and other advanced psychological operation strategies. I would like to go over the details with you in person if possible, as I am concerned with discussing this over email.
"I’m sorry for using English, but I want to make sure that I do not miscommunicate. Please contact me at your earliest convenience if I can set up a time to meet with you.”
During that same visit, he created a Word document entitled Important Information to Share with Chinese Government. That document was recovered from his Apple iCloud.
The Army was able to confirm that the document did include classified information that could pose a threat to national security.
Schmidt continued to communicate with the Chinese consulate, offering more information, to include his Common Access Card (CAC) for the Chinese government to reverse engineer.
Schmidt’s story is reminiscent of another recent former Army specialist named Bradly Manning, who released nearly 750,000 classified or sensitive documents to WikiLeaks. Manning, who changed his name to Chelsea while imprisoned at Fort Leavenworth, was eventually pardoned by then-President Obama.
While Manning was not communicating directly with a government considered hostile to national defense, they both seemed willing to comprise the security of the US and its citizenry.
According to the DOJ, the Army veteran was attempting to provide intel to the Chinese government as part his attempt to be welcomed into China.
He is now being charged with Unlawful Retention of Nation Defense Information and Attempting to Deliver National Defense Information. The charging document indicated that Schmidt has reason to believe that his actions would cause injury to the United States.
According to the Daily Caller, the former Sergeant was most recently assigned to the 109th Military Intelligence Battalion at Joint Base McCord in the Seattle-Tacoma area. Per the FBI indictment, Schmidt had access to a wealth of classified information.
“SCHMIDT was assigned to a Human Intelligence (“HUMINT”) squad as a HUMINT Collector and ultimately became a Team Leader of other HUMINT Collectors," the indictment read.
"In this role, SCHMIDT supervised HUMINT collection operations and the production of intelligence reporting, analysis, and the dissemination of intelligence products. SCHMIDT’s work directly supported the Indo-Pacific Command, the U.S. Department of Defense’s geographic combatant command that covers the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean region, including the PRC.
"As a HUMINT Collector and Team Leader, SCHMIDT attended various intelligence-related trainings, including: Advanced and Basic Leader Courses; Counterintelligence Collections; Human Intelligence Collector; Human Intelligence Operation Management; and Human Intelligence Tradecraft. SCHMIDT also attended the Defense Language Institute Chinese-Mandarin training.”
Schmidt made numerous trips to the People’s Republic of China, both while on active duty and after his departure. One of those trips came only six days after he separated from the Army.
In February of 2020, he left the US and went to Istanbul, Turkey, where he spent roughly three weeks. It was during this visit that investigations ramped up surrounding his activities.
While in Turkey, he conducted the following internet searches and site visits:
It was also during this time that he sent the following email to the general account of the Chinese Consulate in Istanbul: “Hello, My name is Joe Schmidt. I am a United States citizen looking to move to China. I currently reside in Istanbul, and am trying to set up an appointment at the consulate in Istanbul.
"I also am trying to share information I learned during my career as an interrogator with the Chinese government. I have a current top secret clearance, and would like to talk to someone from the Government to share this information with you if that is possible.
"My experience includes training in interrogation, running sources as a spy handler, surveillance detection, and other advanced psychological operation strategies. I would like to go over the details with you in person if possible, as I am concerned with discussing this over email.
"I’m sorry for using English, but I want to make sure that I do not miscommunicate. Please contact me at your earliest convenience if I can set up a time to meet with you.”
During that same visit, he created a Word document entitled Important Information to Share with Chinese Government. That document was recovered from his Apple iCloud.
The Army was able to confirm that the document did include classified information that could pose a threat to national security.
Schmidt continued to communicate with the Chinese consulate, offering more information, to include his Common Access Card (CAC) for the Chinese government to reverse engineer.
Schmidt’s story is reminiscent of another recent former Army specialist named Bradly Manning, who released nearly 750,000 classified or sensitive documents to WikiLeaks. Manning, who changed his name to Chelsea while imprisoned at Fort Leavenworth, was eventually pardoned by then-President Obama.
While Manning was not communicating directly with a government considered hostile to national defense, they both seemed willing to comprise the security of the US and its citizenry.
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