A US military intelligence officer pleaded guilty on Tuesday to providing classified US defence information to China, including documents on weapons systems and military strategies.
Korbein Schultz, who had authorization to access classified documents, was arrested in March at Fort Campbell, a military base in the eastern United States.
He pleaded guilty to, among other things, divulging information related to national defence, exporting classified data without authorization and bribing a public official, the Justice Department said in a statement.
According to the US justice system, the military officer sent dozens of confidential documents about the US Armed Forces to a person living in Hong Kong, allegedly linked to the Chinese government.
Schultz received 42,000 dollars (38,000 euros at the current exchange rate) for providing the information, according to the Justice Department.
Among the documents transmitted to China, one relates data collected by the US Army on the war in Ukraine and which could be applied to defend Taiwan, which China claims as one of its provinces.
Other documents contain information about Chinese military tactics, exercises by US forces in South Korea and the Philippines and details about weapons such as the HH-60 helicopter or the F-22 fighter jet.
‘Governments like China target our military personnel and national security information, and we will do everything in our power to ensure that this information is protected from hostile foreign governments,’ said Robert Wells, a senior FBI official.
Korbein Schultz could be sentenced to decades in prison. A hearing has been scheduled for 23 January 2025.
This case comes a year after the arrest of two US Navy personnel in California on charges of spying for China.
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