A US Army analyst has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to sell military secrets to China, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has said.
Sgt Korbein Schultz was arrested in March after an investigation by the FBI and US Army counterintelligence alleged that he was paid $42,000 (£33,000) in exchange for dozens of sensitive security records.
The criminal conspiracy began in June 2022 and continued up until his arrest, officials said.
He is scheduled for sentencing in January.
Sgt Schultz, who held a security clearance to access top secret information, conspired to collect data with someone whom he believed to be living in Hong Kong, according to court documents.
The purported Hong Kong resident asked Sgt Schultz to collect sensitive data related to missile defence and mobile artillery systems, according to court records.
Sgt Schultz also collected data on US fighter aircraft, military tactics, and the US military’s defence strategy for Taiwan, based on what it learned from Russia’s war in Ukraine.
MICE - Money, Ideology, Coercion, Ego