Sun. Dec 22nd, 2024

An Army intelligence analyst has pleaded guilty to selling sensitive defense information to a Hong Kong resident with suspected ties to the Chinese government, authorities said.

The analyst involved, Sergeant Corbin Schultz, had a high-level security clearance at Fort Campbell, a base between Kentucky and Tennessee, before he was arrested in March.

Schultz pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to leak national defense information, as well as exporting technical data on defense articles without proper authorization and bribing a public official.

The information Schultz leaked included details about the impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war on U.S. military strategies, potential lessons for Taiwan, and other documents on Chinese military preparations and tactics, as well as U.S. training activities in South Korea and the Philippines.

The Justice Department said Schultz received $42,000 in exchange for the information. Schultz is expected to face prison sentences that could extend to decades, with a sentencing hearing scheduled for January 23, 2025. Last year, US authorities arrested two members of the US Navy in California on charges of spying for China, and one of them was sentenced to 27 months in prison after pleading guilty.

The United States accuses China of carrying out cyber-attacks targeting American companies, government institutions and academic institutions; With the aim of stealing sensitive data, including intellectual property, research, and personal information of American citizens.

One of the most famous incidents was the hacking of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in 2015, where sensitive information was stolen from millions of American government employees.

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