Ex-Army sergeant sentenced for trying to give state secrets to China after mental health spiral

A former Army sergeant who once held top-secret clearance at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state was sentenced Tuesday to four years in federal prison for attempting to provide national defense information to China Joseph Daniel Schmidt pleaded guilty in June to attempting to deliver and retain classified material according to the Department of Justice DOJ U S District Judge John C Coughenour also ordered three years of supervised release Schmidt's sentencing comes as U S officials warn of growing efforts by China to recruit or exploit former military personnel with access to sensitive information As a retired Army officer I find it unconscionable for a former soldier to put his colleagues and country at menace by peddling secret information and intelligence access to a hostile foreign power Acting U S Attorney Charles Neil Floyd reported NAVY SAILOR FACES LIFE IN PRISON AFTER SELLING MILITARY SECRETS TO CHINA FOR K PAYMENTSchmidt enlisted in and served in the Army s th Military Intelligence Battalion until Prosecutors disclosed he had access to both secret and top secret systems and later contacted Chinese consular administrators after leaving the Army Court records show Schmidt created multiple documents based on classified material and offered them to Chinese defense services He also kept a device capable of accessing secure Army networks which prosecutors noted he offered to Chinese leaders After leaving the Army Schmidt traveled to Hong Kong in March and continued corresponding with Chinese contacts He lived there for more than three years before flying to San Francisco in October where he was arrested He pleaded guilty in June and was sentenced Tuesday in Seattle CHINESE NATIONAL SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR SABOTAGING EMPLOYER'S SYSTEMS WITH 'KILL SWITCH'Coughenour reported he weighed the seriousness of Schmidt s crime and his mental vitality at the time A DOJ spokesperson approved to Fox News Digital the judge considered Schmidt s mental physical condition as a mitigating factor during sentencing The agency declared Schmidt s separation from the Army followed a mental healthcare episode and personnel added that no classified material was concluded to have reached China The FBI and our partners will remain vigilant in our mission to safeguard our nation mentioned W Mike Herrington special agent in charge of the Seattle field office Assistant U S Attorney Todd Greenberg disclosed Schmidt created documents based on classified and national defense information He used his training to provide sensitive information to the Chinese guard utility He knew what he was doing was wrong he was doing web searches for such things as Can you be extradited for treason The FBI investigated the scenario with valuable assistance provided by the U S Army Counterintelligence Command USACC The development was investigated by the FBI s Seattle Field Office with assistance from the USACC The Army did not right away respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment