Carding 4 Carders
Professional
Where is the line between stupidity and national betrayal blurred?
29-year-old Joseph Daniel Schmidt, a former US Army sergeant with a security clearance, was recently arrested in San Francisco after flying in from Hong Kong.
Schmidt is scheduled to appear in court in the Northern District of California and then be transferred to the Western District of Washington for further legal proceedings, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) said.
Schmidt's last posting was at the large Lewis-McChord Army Base in western Washington. The retired military officer is charged with storing national defense information obtained at the above-mentioned base, as well as attempting to transfer this classified information to another country.
During his service, Schmidt was part of the Human Intelligence unit. At first, he worked as a simple intelligence collector, but later rose to the head of a group of such collectors. His work related to the Indo-Pacific Command, including China. Schmidt successfully completed several courses on data intelligence at once, and also attended Chinese language courses at the Institute under the Ministry of Defense.
After completing active duty in January 2020, Schmidt first traveled to China, then returned to the United States, visited Istanbul in Turkey in February, and traveled to China again in March 2020.
The FBI affidavit document contains numerous allegations about Schmidt's near-absurd level of incompetence in trying to disguise his actions in passing classified information to Chinese agents.
It is reported that Schmidt offered to share top-secret information not through a complex onion routing system and an encrypted communication channel, but directly through his personal Gmail email address. In general, he conducted all correspondence with foreign agents through this mail service.
Also, according to the FBI agent's statement, while in Turkey, Schmidt used the Google search engine to study which countries do not have extradition treaties with the United States. Of course, neither about the incognito mode, nor about VPN and other means of protecting anonymity, Schmidt for some reason did not remember.
Among the search queries that directly prove the former sergeant's involvement in espionage, there are the following: "what is the Chinese intelligence agency", "can you be extradited for treason" and "espionage subreddit".
According to the FBI, in correspondence with foreign agents, Schmidt used four email addresses, and all of them were registered in the name of "Joey Schmidt". He also used one of these accounts to book trips to China during his service, which is hardly a well-thought-out plan.
The FBI also claims that Schmidt tried to get a work permit, as well as a visa for permanent residence in China.
Tessa M. Gorman, acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, said:" The actions of this former serviceman are astounding — he not only voluntarily attempted to provide information about national defense, but also to transmit data that would help a foreign adversary gain access to the Department's secure computer networks.
The former sergeant apparently skipped digital hygiene classes in his intelligence course. His attempts to secretly transmit secret data via Gmail look like a child trying to hide the traces of eating cookies, smearing crumbs all over the kitchen.
Fortunately for US national security, this "007 agent" discredited himself on all counts and was quickly caught. This case once again proves that even if you have secret data, you should not neglect the basics of computer literacy and the rules for anonymous use of the Internet.
29-year-old Joseph Daniel Schmidt, a former US Army sergeant with a security clearance, was recently arrested in San Francisco after flying in from Hong Kong.
Schmidt is scheduled to appear in court in the Northern District of California and then be transferred to the Western District of Washington for further legal proceedings, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) said.
Schmidt's last posting was at the large Lewis-McChord Army Base in western Washington. The retired military officer is charged with storing national defense information obtained at the above-mentioned base, as well as attempting to transfer this classified information to another country.
During his service, Schmidt was part of the Human Intelligence unit. At first, he worked as a simple intelligence collector, but later rose to the head of a group of such collectors. His work related to the Indo-Pacific Command, including China. Schmidt successfully completed several courses on data intelligence at once, and also attended Chinese language courses at the Institute under the Ministry of Defense.
After completing active duty in January 2020, Schmidt first traveled to China, then returned to the United States, visited Istanbul in Turkey in February, and traveled to China again in March 2020.
The FBI affidavit document contains numerous allegations about Schmidt's near-absurd level of incompetence in trying to disguise his actions in passing classified information to Chinese agents.
It is reported that Schmidt offered to share top-secret information not through a complex onion routing system and an encrypted communication channel, but directly through his personal Gmail email address. In general, he conducted all correspondence with foreign agents through this mail service.
Also, according to the FBI agent's statement, while in Turkey, Schmidt used the Google search engine to study which countries do not have extradition treaties with the United States. Of course, neither about the incognito mode, nor about VPN and other means of protecting anonymity, Schmidt for some reason did not remember.
Among the search queries that directly prove the former sergeant's involvement in espionage, there are the following: "what is the Chinese intelligence agency", "can you be extradited for treason" and "espionage subreddit".
According to the FBI, in correspondence with foreign agents, Schmidt used four email addresses, and all of them were registered in the name of "Joey Schmidt". He also used one of these accounts to book trips to China during his service, which is hardly a well-thought-out plan.
The FBI also claims that Schmidt tried to get a work permit, as well as a visa for permanent residence in China.
Tessa M. Gorman, acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, said:" The actions of this former serviceman are astounding — he not only voluntarily attempted to provide information about national defense, but also to transmit data that would help a foreign adversary gain access to the Department's secure computer networks.
The former sergeant apparently skipped digital hygiene classes in his intelligence course. His attempts to secretly transmit secret data via Gmail look like a child trying to hide the traces of eating cookies, smearing crumbs all over the kitchen.
Fortunately for US national security, this "007 agent" discredited himself on all counts and was quickly caught. This case once again proves that even if you have secret data, you should not neglect the basics of computer literacy and the rules for anonymous use of the Internet.
