US charges ex-intelligence officer with trying to give defence secrets to China

FBI alleges former sergeant Joseph Daniel Schmidt tried to set up a meeting with Chinese consulate in Turkey

A former US army intelligence officer has been charged with attempting to provide classified defence information to the Chinese security services during the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic - including some listed in a Microsoft Word document titled Important Information to Share with Chinese Government".

Authorities on Friday arrested former sergeant Joseph Daniel Schmidt, 29, at San Francisco international airport as he arrived from Hong Kong, where he had been living since March 2020, the Justice Department said. A federal grand jury in Seattle returned an indictment on Wednesday charging him with retention and attempted delivery of national defence information.