In a significant breach of national security, US Army intelligence analyst Korbein Schultz has admitted to selling highly classified military secrets to a suspected Chinese agent in exchange for over $40,000. The US Department of Justice announced the guilty plea on Tuesday, marking a grave incident of espionage.
Schultz, who held top-secret clearance, was charged with sharing sensitive national defense information, including export-controlled technical data on US military weapons systems. He provided these details to an individual in Hong Kong, whom he believed had ties to the Chinese government.
The charges against Schultz, which were filed in March, include conspiracy to disclose national defense information, exporting defense articles without a license, and bribery of a public official. In total, Schultz received approximately $42,000 in exchange for the sensitive data.
Court documents revealed the alarming extent of Schultz’s betrayal, as he provided information on the US Army’s lessons learned from the ongoing Ukraine war, potential defense plans for Taiwan, intelligence on Chinese military tactics, and details of US military satellite capabilities.
FBI Executive Assistant Director Robert Wells emphasized the seriousness of the case, stating, “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.”
Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen further condemned Schultz’s actions, saying, “By conspiring to transmit national defense information to a person living outside the United States, this defendant recklessly put our national security at risk to cash in on the trust our military placed in him.”
The case highlights the ongoing threats to national security and underscores the importance of safeguarding sensitive military information from adversarial nations.
