
A former U.S. Army sergeant who worked in military intelligence and carried a top secret security clearance was arrested Friday and charged with trying to pass sensitive American defense information to China.
Federal agents took 29-year-old Joseph Daniel Schmidt into custody at the San Francisco airport this morning, officials said. He faces one count of trying to deliver national defense information and one count of retention of national defense information.
Court papers say Schmidt served in the U.S. Army from 2015 to 2020, primarily with the 109th Military Intelligence Battalion at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. He held a top secret security clearance, had studied Mandarin and worked as a team leader in spying operations.