US Army Soldier Pleads Guilty to Selling Sensitive Military Information to China
An Army soldier has pleaded guilty to charges accusing him of selling sensitive information related to US military capabilities to China, CBS News reports.
Sgt. Korbein Schultz, a 24-year-old intelligence analyst, entered the guilty plea on Tuesday in federal court in Nashville. He had initially pleaded not guilty but requested a change of plea last month.
Schultz, who held a top-secret security clearance, admitted to providing classified documents, photographs, and other national defense materials to an individual identified only as “Conspirator A” since June 2022. He received at least 14 payments totaling $42,000 for this information.
According to the indictment, Schultz was recruited by Conspirator A, a foreign national residing in Hong Kong, due to his security clearance and his role in gathering sensitive U.S. military intelligence.
The information Schultz provided included details on rocket, missile, and artillery systems, including the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS); hypersonic equipment; counter-drone tactics; U.S. military satellites; studies on future U.S. military developments; and analyses of military drills and operations in major countries like China.
Schultz was initially paid $200 for providing documents detailing lessons learned from the Russia-Ukraine war and how those lessons could be applied to aiding Taiwan in the event of an attack. This initial payment prompted Conspirator A to propose a “long-term partnership” with Schultz.
Conspirator A later suggested that Schultz could earn more money by providing “internal only” material instead of unclassified documents.
Schultz pleaded guilty to all charges against him, including conspiring to obtain and disclose military defense information and bribery of a public official. He will be sentenced on January 23, 2025.
Brigadier General Rhett R. Cox, Commanding General of the Army Counterintelligence Command, issued a statement warning all Army members, past and present, to report any requests for classified or sensitive information to authorities within 24 hours to avoid accountability for inaction.
