An American who worked for the military intelligence service pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the charge that was giving to China confidential and secret information regarding the defense of USA, including documents on equipment, military tactics and strategies.
THE Corbin Scholza top classified noncommissioned officer, was arrested in March at Fort Campbell, a military base in eastern Kentucky.
He pleaded guilty to, among other charges, divulging information related to national defense, extracting confidential data related to military equipment without authorization, and corruption of a public official, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.
According to the filings, the serviceman paid dozens of confidential US military documents to a person living in Hong Kong who is said to be connected to the Chinese government.
Received 42,000 dollars for these data, according to the Ministry of Justice.
Among the documents he sent to China was a report on lessons learned by the US military from the war in Ukraine, which could be applied to the defense of Taiwan, an island that Beijing considers a Chinese province.
Other documents contained analyzes of Chinese military tactics, US military exercises in South Korea and the Philippines, or even weapons systems such as the HH-60 helicopter and the F-22 low-observability fighter.
“Governments like China aggressively target our military personnel and our national security information, and we will do everything within our power to guarantee the protection of that information from hostile foreign governments,” said Robert Wells, executive assistant director of the FBI.
Corbin Scholz now faces the prospect of spending decades in prison. A hearing was set for January 23, 2025.
His arrest followed that, a year earlier, of two marines in California who were accused of spying for China.
#military #selling #classified #documents #China
