US army soldier arrested for selling sensitive military information

An Army soldier has been arrested on charges of selling sensitive information related to US military capabilities, Justice Department officials said Thursday.

Korbein Schultz, who is also an intelligence analyst, was accused in a six-count indictment of charges including conspiring to obtain and disclose military defense information and bribery of a public official.

According to the indictment, Schultz who had a top-secret security clearance allegedly conspired with an individual identified only as Conspirator A to disclose various documents, photographs and other national defense materials since June 2022. The indictment claims that Schultz was recruited by the individual not only due to his security clearance but also because he was tasked with gathering sensitive US military information.

Some of the information that Schultz supposedly gave to the individual included information related to the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, hypersonic equipment, studies on future developments of US military forces and studies on military drills and operations in major countries like China.

The indictment outlines that Schultz was initially asked to provide documents detailing lessons that could be learned from Russia's war with Ukraine and how those lessons could be applied to the US helping Taiwan in the event of an attack. Schultz was paid $200 for that information, which then prompted Conspirator A, to ask for a "long-term partnership."

Conspirator A, who was described in the indictment as a foreign national purporting to reside in Hong Kong, later suggested that Schultz could earn more money if he handed over internal only material rather than unclassified documents.

In total, Shultz received at least 14 payments totaling $42,000.

The case is the latest in a series of federal prosecutions of current or former military members accused of illegally disclosing sensitive government secrets.

For instance in April 2023, Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira was charged with leaking highly classified military documents about Russia's war in Ukraine on Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games. He pleaded guilty on Monday in a deal with prosecutors that calls for him to serve at least 11 years in prison.

In August, two US Navy sailors were charged with providing sensitive military information to China including details on wartime exercises, naval operations and critical technical material.

And more recently, the Justice Department announced charges this week against a civilian Air Force employee and retired Army lieutenant colonel for sharing classified information about the war with Ukraine on a foreign dating site.