US soldier confesses to selling defense secrets to China: Details emerge

Aug. 14, 2024, 1:54 a.m.

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Sergeant Korbein Schultz, a US Army intelligence analyst, admitted guilt on Tuesday (August 13) to charges of providing classified defense information to China.

Schultz, who had top-secret security clearance, was apprehended in March at Fort Campbell, a military installation on the Kentucky-Tennessee border, and now faces a potential prison sentence of several decades.

Bribery for files

The Justice Department stated that Schultz confessed to conspiring to acquire and divulge national defense information, exporting technical data related to military equipment without authorization, and accepting bribes.

Schultz received a payment of $42,000 for transferring numerous classified US military documents to an individual in Hong Kong, whom he believed to have ties to the Chinese government.

The documents Schultz disclosed included vital information concerning US weapons systems, military tactics, and strategies. Significantly, one document contained a discussion of lessons learned by the US Army from the Ukraine-Russia conflict, which could be applied in a potential defense of Taiwan.

Other documents provided details on Chinese military tactics and readiness, as well as US military exercises and forces stationed in South Korea and the Philippines.

Additional materials encompassed sensitive information regarding the HH-60 helicopter, the F-22A fighter jet, the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, and various missile systems.

China focusing on US military personnel

“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,” said Robert Wells, executive assistant director of the FBI’s National Security Branch.

Schultz’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 23, 2025.

His apprehension comes after a series of espionage cases involving US military personnel, including the recent arrests of two US Navy sailors in California, Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao and Jinchao Wei, for spying for China.

Zhao was sentenced to 27 months in prison after pleading guilty to working with a foreign intelligence officer and taking a bribe.

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