The U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrest of a former non-commissioned officer in military intelligence on Friday in the United States and accused him of attempting to deliver information related to national defense to China.

Joseph Daniel Schmidt (29 years old) served in the army from early 2015 to early 2020 and worked particularly in Military Intelligence Battalion 109 stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State (Northwest), according to a statement from the department.

He is suspected of having "contacted the Chinese consulate in Turkey shortly after leaving the army in 2020, and subsequently with Chinese security agencies via email offering them information about national defense."

In March 2020, Joseph Daniel Schmidt traveled to Hong Kong, where he is believed to have continued his attempts to "provide confidential information obtained during his military service to Chinese intelligence agencies."

The department added that he offered to deliver to Chinese intelligence a device he was keeping, which would allow access to secure military computer networks.

It clarified that the former serviceman "remained in China, particularly in Hong Kong, until he boarded a flight this week to San Francisco. He was arrested at the airport."

Matthew Olsen, Deputy Attorney General for National Security, confirmed in the statement that "individuals entrusted with information related to national defense have an obligation to continue to protect that information outside of their service to the state and certainly beyond our borders."

The former serviceman is being prosecuted for attempting to provide information related to national defense and concealing that information, both of which carry a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

U.S. authorities had arrested two Navy personnel in August in California and charged them with transferring sensitive intelligence information to China.