US Soldier Sentenced for Spying: Secrets on Taiwan Defense Compromised

A significant breach of US military intelligence revealed, impacting defense strategies related to Taiwan and beyond.

A US Army intelligence analyst has been sentenced to seven years in prison for providing classified defense information to China. The sensitive information shared included details about the US's potential defense of Taiwan, weapon systems, and military tactics and strategy.

Sergeant Korbein Schultz, who held a top-secret security clearance, was apprehended in March last year at Fort Campbell, a military base located on the Kentucky-Tennessee border.

The sentencing followed Schultz's guilty plea in August last year, acknowledging that he shared at least 92 sensitive US military documents, according to a statement from the US Department of Justice.

He pleaded guilty to charges including conspiring to obtain and disclose national defense information, exporting technical data related to defense articles without a license, conspiracy to export defense articles without a license, and bribery of a public official.

“This sentencing is a stark warning to those who betray our country: You will pay a steep price for it,” stated FBI Director Kash Patel.

According to charging documents, Schultz provided numerous sensitive US military documents to an individual residing in Hong Kong, whom he believed to be connected to the Chinese government.

He received US$42,000 in exchange for the information, the justice department reported.

Among the documents provided by Schultz was one discussing the lessons the US Army learned from the Ukraine-Russia war, and how those lessons would be applied in the defense of Taiwan.

Other documents covered Chinese military tactics and preparedness, as well as US military exercises and forces in South Korea and the Philippines.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi highlighted the justice department’s vigilance against China's efforts to target the military, assuring that those who leak military secrets will face lengthy prison sentences.

Schultz’s arrest occurred less than a year after the arrest of two US Navy sailors in California on charges of espionage for China.

One of them, petty officer Zhao Wenheng (趙文恆), was sentenced to 27 months in prison in January last year after pleading guilty to conspiring with a foreign intelligence officer and accepting a bribe.