Military police check identifications at an entry gate of Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington. (Gary Warner/Stars and Stripes)
SEATTLE — A former Army sergeant for an intelligence unit at Joint Base Lewis-McChord who has been charged with trying to sell military secrets to the Chinese has been ruled competent to stand trial after nine months in a federal psychiatric facility, a U.S. district judge ruled.
Joseph Schmidt, 31, was charged by a grand jury on Oct. 3, 2023, with possessing national defense documents and attempting to supply them to China. He faces penalties of up to 10 years in jail and a $250,000 fine on each count. U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour ruled Tuesday that Schmidt could stand trial.
Schmidt was a team leader in the human intelligence section of the 109th Military Intelligence Battalion at the Army-Air Force base in Washington, according to Army records.
An FBI report on the case said Schmidt left the Army in 2020 and went on a globe-trotting trip to Beijing, Istanbul and Hong Kong to try to meet with Chinese security agents, who he hoped would hire him as an expert in “interrogation” and “espionage.”
The FBI said it was uncertain the Chinese ever met with Schmidt, but federal agents intercepted messages that he sent seeking meetings with Chinese agents and his online searches on spying techniques.
Schmidt was arrested Oct. 6, 2023, in San Francisco as he departed a flight from Hong Kong. Schmidt was later transferred to a federal jail near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to await trial.
However, Coughenour ruled in May 2024 that Schmidt was not mentally competent to “understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him or to assist properly in his defense.”
Coughenour ordered Schmidt remanded to a federal psychiatric facility to “undergo competency restoration treatment, which might include, as necessary, individual therapy.”
Government psychiatric doctors were to regularly submit reports to the court detailing Schmidt’s mental competency.
At a competency hearing held Tuesday in Seattle federal court, assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Greenberg and assistant Federal Public Defender Dennis Carroll agreed Schmidt’s mental state had improved to the point that he could understand and aid his defense.
“Both sides had agreed he was competent, and Judge John Coughenour signed the order to that effect,” said Emily Langlie, spokeswoman for the office of the U.S. Attorney for Western Washington. “The defense and prosecution will now meet to discuss a schedule moving forward toward a trial date.”
