An ex-Army Sergeant faces up to ten years in prison after he pleaded guilty to attempting to give American military secrets to China. 
Joseph Daniel Schmidt, 31, last stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington, pled guilty on Wednesday to charges of attempting to deliver national defense information and retention of national defense information. He will be sentenced in September by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour. In addition to prison, Schmidt could be hit with a $250,000 fine.  
Schmidt was an active duty soldier from January 2015 to January 2020 and mainly worked with the 109th Military Intelligence Battalion at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. During his military service, he had access to information designated as secret and top secret, according to the Justice Department. 
After leaving the military in January 2020, Schmidt emailed the Chinese Consulate in Turkey and the Chinese security service, offering to provide them with national defense information. 
In March 2020, Schmidt flew to Hong Kong, where he attempted to give Chinese security officials intelligence he had kept from his time in the military. According to the Justice Department, he produced multiple documents detailing the “high level secrets” he had in his possession and offered to give a device that allows access to secure military computers to the Chinese. 
He flew back to the United States in October 2023 when he was arrested in San Francisco. 
“Joseph Daniel Schmidt was once a trusted guardian of our nation’s secrets and swore an oath to defend and protect U.S. national security,” Assistant Director Suzanne Turner of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division said in October 2023 when Schmidt was indicted. “As alleged by the government, Schmidt betrayed his promise and potentially placed our nation at risk in his attempts to pass national defense information to Chinese security services.”
In recent years, the FBI has made a number of arrests involving former American soldiers accused of attempting to give sensitive military information to China. 
Earlier this year, former Army intelligence officer Korbein Schultz was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-army-intel-officer-sentenced-after-selling-u-s-military-secrets-to-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sentenced</a> to seven years in prison for selling critical military documents to an individual believed to be tied to the Chinese government. Schultz was paid $42,000 for information on American military exercises and technical equipment manuals.
Just last month, the Justice Department <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/active-duty-and-former-us-army-soldiers-arrested-theft-government-property-and-bribery">announced</a> that Jian Zhao and Li Tian, both active duty Army soldiers also stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and former soldier Ruoyu Duan had been charged with stealing U.S. military secrets. They were accused of taking top-secret hard drives, information on weapon systems, and documents on missile defenses to sell to individuals based in China.

TOPSHOT-ASIAD-2022-2023-HANGZHOU-OPENING

Ex-U.S. Army Soldier Admits Plot To Provide China With Sensitive Military Intel

Ex-U.S. Army Soldier Admits To Plot To Provide China With Sensitive Military Intel

Communist China

Military

Politics

Spying

U.S. Army

Washington

In May, U.S. energy officials <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/ghost-machine-rogue-communication-devices-found-chinese-inverters-2025-05-14/">released</a> bombshell findings about China’s ability to turn out the lights across America. Rogue communications devices were found inside Chinese solar power inverters. In addition, undisclosed cellular radios were found inside Chinese batteries. These Chinese Communist Party sabotage efforts are reminiscent of CCP-tied Huawei’s infiltration of our communications network, which gave Beijing the ability to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/23/politics/fbi-investigation-huawei-china-defense-department-communications-nuclear/index.html">disrupt our nuclear arsenal communications</a>.
Beijing seeks the ability to remotely access and destroy the systems upon which Americans depend for everyday life and upon which our military depends to project power across the globe. The U.S. rightly began to remove Huawei technologies from our market <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/ghost-machine-rogue-communication-devices-050547906.html?guccounter=1">in 2019</a> because of security risks. Since then, ironically, we’ve allowed China to flood our market with network-connected technologies such as routers, drones, cranes, healthcare devices, cameras, green tech, and more, which collectively constitute a deeper penetration of our vital systems. This trend must be reversed through new laws and better law enforcement to block and remove all Chinese network-connected technologies. 
American tax dollars should not fund technologies that facilitate Chinese espionage and sabotage efforts. At the federal level, Congress should ban federal procurement of Chinese network-connected technologies. Congress should also codify President Trump’s Information and Communications Technology <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/05/17/2019-10538/securing-the-information-and-communications-technology-and-services-supply-chain">executive order</a> from 2019 and fund ICT programs to block CCP tech. During March 2025 testimony, former Biden Administration official Dr. Rush Doshi <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/oS_aZXE6W0k">argued</a> that codifying Trump’s order “would let us prohibit certain [Chinese] goods,” especially power converters and network-connected technologies, “from being in the U.S. market.”
States must excise CCP network-connected technologies from their critical infrastructure and government systems. For example, Texas’ 2021 <a href="https://www.jw.com/news/insights-texas-lone-star-infrastructure-protection-act/">Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act (LIPA)</a> forbids Texas businesses and government from contracting with China, Russia, North Korea and Iran on critical infrastructure, especially if foreign parties would gain remote access or control of the infrastructure. A 2023 Nebraska law <a href="https://flood.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-flood-applauds-bipartisan-work-ban-state-funds-huawei-equipment">prohibits</a> the state from providing public funds to telecommunications providers that have not yet removed Huawei 5G hardware from their cell towers. Utah passed a 2024 law to end procurement of Chinese technologies such as computers and routers. All states should adopt these measures.
Furthermore, the U.S. must enforce the rule-of-law. The Chinese Communist Party has made tremendous gains at the expense of the U.S. in part because the U.S. and its allies have failed to enforce their own laws upon malicious CCP agents and entities. At a fundamental level, the two legal systems are incompatible because <a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/statement-national-security-advisor-robert-c-obrien-011521-2/">China’s laws require businesses to engage in espionage for the party-state</a>, while America’s laws require data privacy. America must pivot and crush CCP lawlessness. Consumer fraud and data privacy laws must be tightened, and robust enforcement actions must be taken by both federal agencies and state attorneys general. 
In March 2025, the FCC’s Council on National Security <a href="https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/fcc-investigating-china-companies-national-security/743316/">opened an investigation</a> into several telecommunications companies, including Huawei, for engaging in unfair, deceptive, and fraudulent business practices such as selling banned equipment in the United States. The FCC can go further by revoking telecom licenses from corrupt entities. Meanwhile, other federal agencies must get in the fight.
State AGs must enforce the law against Chinese manufacturers that embed hidden backdoors in products, and American companies that “white-label” such products must also be held accountable. For example, according to the federal <a href="https://www.cisa.gov/resources-tools/resources/contec-cms8000-contains-backdoor">Cybersecurity &amp; Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)</a> the Chinese company Contec sells healthcare monitors with embedded backdoors that provide Beijing with access to patient data along with the ability to manipulate readings of a patient’s vitals. AGs should investigate Contec for potential violations of consumer and medical data protections. As a recent FDA Safety Communication states, <a href="https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/safety-communications/cybersecurity-vulnerabilities-certain-patient-monitors-contec-and-epsimed-fda-safety-communication">Florida-based Epsimed</a>, which sells Contec products in the U.S., should also be investigated.
These security concerns are amplified by ethical concerns. Chinese green energy technologies are not only riddled with backdoors, they often <a href="http://www.cecc.gov/events/hearings/from-cobalt-to-cars-how-china-exploits-child-and-forced-labor-in-the-congo">rely on slave labor</a>. Too many environmental activists have been hoodwinked into promoting cheap CCP hardware to “save the planet,” all while supporting slave labor and compromising our energy grid.
The United States <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/ghost-machine-rogue-communication-devices-050547906.html?guccounter=1">2019 actions against Huawei</a> were a strong step, but since then we’ve lost ground. Rapid and concerted action is needed to protect our way of life against Chinese Communist Party sabotage, and to build an economic system based upon rule-of-law rather than communist infiltration and subversion.
* * *
Michael Lucci is the Founder and CEO of State Armor, a 501(c)(3) non-profit advocating for state solutions to the global threats posed by the CCP. 
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

TOPSHOT-CHINA-TECHNOLOGY-AI

CCP In The Machine: How China’s Tech Continues To Infiltrate American Hardware

Attorney General

China

Communism

Espionage

Foreign Policy

Opinion

Technology

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday that the State Department would start to “aggressively” revoke the visas of Chinese students. 
Rubio said that the revocations would focus on those with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in “critical fields.” Rubio’s actions come after he froze all new student visa interviews pending the development of new admittance guidelines. 
“Under President Trump’s leadership, the U.S. State Department will work with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,” Rubio announced in a statement. “We will also revise visa criteria to enhance scrutiny of all future visa applications from the People’s Republic of China and Hong Kong.”
There are roughly 275,000 Chinese students studying in the United States. 
Chinese theft of American intellectual property has been a problem for years, and several Chinese students have been charged and convicted of espionage. 
In 2020, a Chinese woman studying at Boston University named Yanqing Ye <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/fbi-wanted-yanqing-ye-china/">fled</a> the country after being accused of working for China while studying chemistry, physics, and biomedical engineering. According to the FBI, Ye was a lieutenant in the Chinese military but did not disclose that when she applied for a student visa. She reportedly gathered intelligence on two American scientists. 
In another <a href="https://abc7chicago.com/post/convicted-ex-chicago-illinois-institute-technology-college-student-chaoqun-ji-part-us-china-spy-swap/15596442/">incident</a>, a Chinese student named Chaoqun Ji, who was attending the Illinois Institute of Technology, was convicted in 2023 of acting as an unregistered agent for China after gathering information on defense contractors. 
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The targeting of Chinese student visas comes as the Trump administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-freezes-all-new-student-visa-interviews-in-major-blow-to-elite-universities?author=Nathan+Gay&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Admin+Freezes+All+New+Student+Visa+Interviews+In+Major+Blow+To+Elite+Universities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has increased vetting</a> for what foreign students are allowed into the country. On Tuesday, Rubio signed a cable directing U.S. embassies to “not add any additional student or exchange visitor (F, M, and J) visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued … which we anticipate in the coming days.”
The pause affects all applicants for student visas while the administration reportedly prepares guidance for expanded social media vetting requirements.
Rubio also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rubio-announces-new-visa-restrictions-for-foreigners-who-censor-americans?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Rubio+Announces+New+Visa+Restrictions+For+Foreigners+Who+Censor+Americans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">took steps</a> on Wednesday to implement new visa restrictions targeting foreigners “complicit” in censoring Americans.
“Today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign nationals who are responsible for censorship of protected expression in the United States,” Rubio said. “It is unacceptable for foreign officials to issue or threaten arrest warrants on U.S. citizens or U.S. residents for social media posts on American platforms while physically present on U.S. soil.”
RELATED: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/group-trying-to-convince-asians-that-america-is-oppressive-has-ties-to-chinese-state-media">Group Trying To Convince Asians That America Is Oppressive Has Ties To Chinese State Media</a>

Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies on the 2026 Budget In House Hearing

Rubio Promises To ‘Aggressively’ Target Students Tied To Chinese Communist Party

Education

Marco Rubio

State Department

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives convened a Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security hearing entitled, “Beijing’s Air, Space, and Maritime Surveillance from Cuba: A Growing Threat to the Homeland.”
In June 2023, The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/cuba-to-host-secret-chinese-spy-base-focusing-on-u-s-b2fed0e0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>, “China and Cuba have reached a secret agreement for China to establish an electronic eavesdropping facility on the island.” The facility would reportedly enable Chinese intelligence services to monitor electronic communications on the American mainland.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security, stated:
<blockquote>
Mounting evidence suggests that the Chinese Communist Party is expanding its strategic partnership with the totalitarian communist regime in Cuba to build advanced surveillance infrastructure capable of targeting the United States. This collaboration represents one of the most brazen intelligence operations ever attempted near the American mainland, and places our military operations, commercial activity, and communications squarely in the crosshairs of a hostile foreign power.
Recent satellite imagery and open-source analysis suggest the presence of several Chinese-funded signals intelligence facilities across Cuba. The possibility that these sites are capable of monitoring U.S. military operations, commercial shipping, space launches and sensitive communications is deeply troubling.
</blockquote>
“A mere 90 miles off our shores, the United States’ most formidable 21st century competitor, the People’s Republic of China, has found fertile soil to deploy its arsenal of espionage, digital surveillance, and maritime competition,” Dr. Ryan C. Berg, the director of Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the subcommittee. “When Soviet influence diminished on the island following the end of the Cold War, eyes, ears, and antennas stayed. In many ways, China filled the void.”
“CSI has positively identified about four specific facilities as highly likely sites supporting Chinese intelligence operations targeting the U.S. &#8230; As you can see &#8230; our adversaries are at our doorstep,” he declared.
“We should not be funding a regime that turns around and opens its doors to our greatest adversaries,” Gimenez said. “If reports of rising Chinese activity in Cuba are accurate, then this is no longer just a diplomatic issue. It is a direct security risk to the American people.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v0rULLTw7l8?si=7LfTK4dydc3N3EN6" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Cuba and China two flags together textile cloth, fabric texture

House Opens Hearing On Chinese Surveillance Targeting U.S. From Cuba

Cuba

Global Politics

National Intelligence

A former intelligence officer with the U.S. Army was sentenced on Wednesday to seven years in prison for selling critical military documents to an individual believed to be tied to the Chinese government.
Korbein Schultz, 25, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/army-intelligence-officer-pleads-guilty-to-selling-defense-information-to-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pled guilty</a> last year to conspiring to collect and transmit national defense information, unlawfully exporting controlled information to China, and accepting bribes in exchange for sensitive government information. The sale of the documents, which included information on American military technology, took place over a three-year period from May 2022 to March 2024, according to the Justice Department. 
“This defendant swore an oath to defend the United States — instead, he betrayed it for a payout and put America’s military and service members at risk,” <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-us-army-intelligence-analyst-sentenced-selling-sensitive-military-information">said</a> Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The Justice Department remains vigilant against China’s efforts to target our military and will ensure that those who leak military secrets spend years behind bars.”
He could have faced 65 years in prison if given the maximum on all counts.
Schultz was paid $42,000 for sending the information to an unidentified foreign national living in Hong Kong believed to be connected to the Chinese government.
The information that he provided included his unit&#8217;s operational order before it was deployed to Eastern Europe, information applying lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war to Taiwan, technical manuals for the Army&#8217;s HH-60 helicopter and F-22A fighter aircraft, manuals on Intercontinental Ballistic Missile systems, American intelligence on the Chinese military and the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, details on American military exercises in South Korea and the Philippines, and documents on American military satellites and missile defense systems.
Schultz was first contacted to sell the secrets over a freelance web-based work platform by an individual pretending to work for a geopolitical consulting firm, according to the Justice Department. The department added that Schultz attempted to recruit a friend who worked for the Department of Defense’s Indo-Pacific Command to take part in the scheme as well.
The FBI&#8217;s Nashville office led the investigation, with assistance from the Department of Defense and the Army Counterintelligence Command.
“This sentencing is a stark warning to those who betray our country: you will pay a steep price for it,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “The People’s Republic of China is relentless in its efforts to steal our national defense information, and service members are a prime target. The FBI and our partners will continue to root out espionage and hold those accountable who abandon their obligation to safeguard defense information from hostile foreign governments.”

ASIAD-2025-CHN-OPENING

Former Army Intel Officer Sentenced After Selling U.S. Military Secrets To China

Crime

Department of Justice

Hong Kong

kash patel

Pam Bondi

Chinese Communist secret police have infiltrated the United States. Working through so-called “nonprofits” with pedestrian-sounding names, these operators have set up spy nests and secret police stations, subverting our Republic while exporting Chinese Communist Party (CCP) totalitarianism to American shores.
<a href="https://dailycaller.com/2024/07/17/exclusive-red-state-ag-subpoenas-local-chinese-service-center-linked-to-communist-party-intel-arm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Investigative reporting</a> has exposed several of these operations, known as “Overseas Chinese Service Centers (OCSCs), in seven American cities: Charlotte, Omaha, Houston, San Francisco, St. Paul, and St. Louis. Working through these organizations, the CCP can extend its intelligence gathering, <a href="https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/Research/China%27s%20Overseas%20United%20Front%20Work%20-%20Background%20and%20Implications%20for%20US_final_0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">influence operations</a> and transnational repression activity into virtually any community. 
In St. Louis, Missouri State Attorney General Andrew Bailey has reacted decisively. He launched a legal investigation into the OCSC after finding that it violated Missouri law by <a href="https://ago.mo.gov/attorney-general-bailey-expands-investigation-into-missouri-non-profit-over-alleged-ties-to-peoples-republic-of-china/#:~:text=With%20the%20CID%20issued%20today,organized%20under%20Missouri%20state%20law." target="_blank" rel="noopener">engaging in</a> “deception, fraud, false promises, misrepresentation, unfair practices, and/or the concealment, suppression, or omission of material facts in connection with the solicitation of charitable funds.”
Bailey’s leadership comes at a critical juncture. National security experts have been ringing alarm bells over the CCP&#8217;s vast network of subversive operations against the United States in the American heartland. The OCSCs are a key part of that network.
OCSCs assume the mantle of nonprofit organizations that, on the surface, promote Chinese culture and assist Chinese citizens living abroad. But their strings are pulled by the <a href="https://selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/media/press-releases/select-committee-unveils-ccp-influence-memo-united-front-101" target="_blank" rel="noopener">United Front Work Department</a> (UFWD), an <a href="https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/annual_reports/2016%20Annual%20Report%20to%20Congress.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">intelligence service</a> which answers directly to the CCP’s Central Committee in Beijing. In addition to helping steal American intellectual property, United Front operations are heavily engaged in transnational repression.
In April 2023, two men were <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-arrested-operating-illegal-overseas-police-station-chinese-government" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charged</a> by the Department of Justice for running a secret police station in New York City under the direction of China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS). The case shines a light on how Communist Party agents operate on U.S. soil.
All around <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/10/08/chinese-police-station-spies-on-dissenters-linked-to-shady-us-charity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the world,</a> China’s overseas police stations monitor, harass and intimidate dissidents. In some cases, they’ve facilitated the <a href="https://jamestown.org/program/the-long-arm-of-the-lawless-the-prcs-overseas-police-stations/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extra-judicial kidnapping</a> of China’s enemies to face the Peoples Republic of China’s <a href="https://www.economist.com/china/2019/10/31/justice-in-china-is-notoriously-harsh-but-reforms-are-afoot" target="_blank" rel="noopener">notorious legal system</a>.
One of the New York defendants, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-arrested-operating-illegal-overseas-police-station-chinese-government" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lu Jianwang,</a> organized counter-protests against the Falun Gong on behalf of the MPS during President Xi Jinping’s 2015 visit to Washington, D.C. In 2018, Lu helped pressure a fugitive to return to China by threatening the victim and their family. In 2022, an MPS official tapped Lu to help track down a pro-democracy dissident thought to be living in California.
CCP infiltration extends far beyond secret police stations and the OCSCs. Attorney General Bailey must launch a similar investigation into another CCP operation in Missouri masquerading as a nonprofit: the <a href="https://usheartlandchina.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. Heartland China Association</a> (USHCA). When the State Department launched its <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/nsd/information-about-department-justice-s-china-initiative-and-compilation-china-related" target="_blank" rel="noopener">China Initiative</a> to counter Chinese economic espionage and protect critical U.S. infrastructure, the CCP became alarmed at its effectiveness. In response, the USHCA co-hosted an <a href="https://ucausa.org/ucatalks-nov-3-2021-event-return-of-mccarthyism/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">event</a> in 2021, calling the initiative as the “return of McCarthyism.” USHCA’s manipulation scheme worked. Just months later, the Biden administration <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/23/1082593735/justice-department-china-initiative" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discontinued</a> the China Initiative amid alleged concern that it was fueling “intolerance and bias against Asian Americans.”
Organizations like the USHCA work hand-in-glove with the Beijing-based Chinese Peoples’ Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), which according to the <a href="https://2017-2021.state.gov/designation-of-the-national-association-for-chinas-peaceful-unification-nacpu-as-a-foreign-mission-of-the-prc/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">U.S. Department of State</a>, actively seeks to “malignly influence state and local leaders to promote the PRC’s global agenda,” and is the party organ “tasked with co-opting and neutralizing threats to the party’s rule and spreading its influence and propaganda overseas.”
<h4><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tickets for “Am I Racist?” are on sale NOW! Buy here for a theater near you.</a></h4>
While Attorney General Bailey is doing what he can within his legal authority to target illegal CCP operations in Missouri, state legislatures around the country must give their attorneys general more tools to deal with this threat. They should start by passing state-level Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) laws that close federal FARA loopholes and help expose the operations of foreign adversaries within the United States. State legislatures should also enact legislation that would enable law enforcement to crack down on transnational repression operations. And, of course, attorneys general must use these tools to take action against <a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-95025c52081b9722e5afca23fe0a43b9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">malign influence</a> operations in their respective states.
The myth that China is interested in becoming more friendly and more democratic is falling apart, and we can take some comfort in that. But the CCP is relentless, and the federal government cannot face it down alone. Protecting our homeland from the CCP will demand focus, commitment, and action by our state and local government officials.
 * * *
Michael Lucci is the founder, CEO, and Chairman of State Armor, which he created to develop and enact state solutions to global security threats. Follow him at: @Michael7ucci
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Daily Wire.

House Judiciary Committee Holds Hearing On Manhattan District Attorney’s Office

Missouri AG Sends Strong Message To CCP: Spy Another Day

Chinese Communist Party

Missouri

Readers Pass

St. Louis

On Thursday, it was reported that Russia has released Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan in a prisoner swap, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/evan-gershkovich-free-cde745b3">according to The Wall Street Journal</a>.
According to the WSJ, the deal is &#8220;part of the largest and most complex East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War.&#8221; The agreement involved two dozen prisoners and at least six countries.
Three Americans and one American green card holder were released in the swap, as Russia also freed journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Vladimir Kara-Murza, the report said.
Russian hit man Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence in Germany, was reportedly at the center of the agreement.
Gershkovich, 32, was arrested in March 2023 in Yekaterinburg, accused of being a CIA spy and convicted in June. Russia also accused Whelan, the former director of global security for auto-parts supplier BorgWarner, of being a spy when he was arrested in 2018 at a wedding in Moscow. They accused him of keeping a flash drive that allegedly contained Russian state secrets. In 2020, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Russian prosecutors had alleged that “under instructions from the CIA” and “using painstaking conspiratorial methods,” Gershkovich “was collecting secret information” regarding a Russian defense contractor. The U.S. State Department called for his immediate release; no public evidence has been presented by Russia that supported its case. He was held in Moscow’s infamous Stalin-era Lefortovo Prison in a small cell and only <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/19/media/evan-gershkovich-espionage-trial-verdict-intl/index.html#:~:text=Evan%20Gershkovich%2C%20the%20first%20American,have%20denounced%20as%20a%20sham" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allowed</a> one hour of walking every day.
“This disgraceful, sham conviction comes after Evan has spent 478 days in prison, wrongfully detained, away from his family and friends, prevented from reporting, all for doing his job as a journalist,” Journal publisher Almar Latour and Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker stated,  “We will continue to do everything possible to press for Evan’s release and to support his family. Journalism is not a crime, and we will not rest until he’s released. This must end now.”
Russia had rebuffed a request from Gershkovich’s legal team that he be moved from the prison to house arrest or be granted bail. Russian President Vladimir Putin has hinted that he would swap Gershkovich for Russians held in other countries, referencing Vadim Krasikov, an FSB operative.
After Whelan was sentenced, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released a <a href="https://www.state.gov/the-conviction-of-u-s-citizen-paul-whelan-in-russia/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> demanding his “immediate release.”
“The United States is outraged by the decision of a Russian court today to convict U.S. citizen Paul Whelan after a secret trial, with secret evidence, and without appropriate allowances for defense witnesses,” Pompeo stated. “We have serious concerns that Mr. Whelan was deprived of the fair trial guarantees that Russia is required to provide him in accordance with its international human rights obligations.”
“The treatment of Paul Whelan at the hands of Russian authorities has been appalling. Russia failed to provide Mr. Whelan with a fair hearing before an independent and impartial tribunal; and during his detention has put his life at risk by ignoring his long-standing medical condition, and unconscionably kept him isolated from family and friends,” Pompeo added.

MixCollage-01-Aug-2024-08-54-AM-4238

Russia Releases WSJ Reporter, Former Marine In Prisoner Swap: Report

Evan Gershkovich

Paul Whelan

Russia

World

Top Republican members of Congress revealed this week that President Joe Biden&#8217;s special envoy to Iran, who is under federal criminal investigation, allegedly transferred classified material to his personal email and cellphone, at which point they were stolen by a hostile foreign actor.
The revelation about Robert Malley, Biden’s now-suspended special envoy to Iran, comes after a <a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/iran-spy-ring-robert-malley-lee-smith">report</a> published in Tablet Magazine last October said that he was linked to an “Iranian spy ring” that was operating to shift U.S. policy to favor the Islamic nation.
The FBI <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-biden-official-under-fbi-investigation-over-handling-of-classified-material-report">criminal investigation</a> into Malley&#8217;s handling of classified material surfaced last summer after he was placed on leave without pay by the State Department.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member James Risch (R-ID) and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-TX) wrote a letter this week to Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressing their frustration with the Department&#8217;s &#8220;lack of responsiveness to our requests for information needed to conduct appropriate oversight.&#8221;
Included in the <a href="https://twitter.com/GLNoronha/status/1787953401944240241">letter</a> was the following revelation:
<blockquote>Specifically, we understand that Mr. Malley&#8217;s security clearance was suspended because he allegedly transferred classified documents to his personal email account and downloaded these documents to his personal cell phone. It is unclear to whom he intended to provide these documents, but it is believed that a hostile cyber actor was able to gain access to his email and/or phone and obtain the downloaded information.</blockquote>
Malley was accused in the Tablet report of advancing several operatives in the suspected Iranian spy ring, including helping an alleged Iranian asset named Ariane Tabatabai infiltrate her way into “some of the most sensitive positions in the U.S. government,” including at the State Department and Pentagon.
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The operation began in 2014 when Iran created the Iran Experts Initiative (IEI), a propaganda and influence operation that recruited top talent from Iranians living abroad to help Iran obtain a favorable nuclear deal. The group reported to an official from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which is a terrorist organization, and Iran’s then-Foreign Minister Javad Zarif was also reportedly involved.
The <a href="https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/iran-spy-ring-robert-malley-lee-smith" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a>, headlined “High-Level Iranian Spy Ring Busted In Washington,” stated:
<blockquote>The contents of the emails are damning, showing a group of Iranian American academics being recruited by the Iranian regime, meeting together in foreign countries to receive instructions from top regime officials, and pledging their personal loyalty to the regime. They also show how these operatives used their Iranian heritage and Western academic positions to influence U.S. policy toward Iran, first as outside “experts” and then from high-level U.S. government posts. Both inside and outside of government, the efforts of members of this circle were repeatedly supported and advanced by Malley, who served as the U.S. government’s chief interlocutor with Iran under both the Obama and the Biden administrations. Malley is also the former head of the International Crisis Group (ICG), which directly paid and credentialed several key members of the regime’s influence operation.</blockquote>
Retired CIA analyst Peter Theroux, who was with the agency for 25 years, told the outlet, “I know what a spy network looks like.”
“This is how recruited assets speak to their handling officers,” he said. “There’s lots of the mood music around that correspondence saying, let me know what you need me to collect. It seems clear who’s the subordinate here — what you’d call responsive to tasking.”
Theroux noted that for someone like Tabatabai to receive even the most basic security clearance from the U.S. government, she would be so thoroughly examined that it would be impossible that the Biden administration did not know about her connections to Iran.
“The hoops you have to jump through to get a bare-bones top secret clearance even without compartments or special access programs are enormous,” he said. “They grill you on your foreign contacts. Contacts with any foreign government raise more red flags than Bernie Sanders’ honeymoon. Contacts with senior officials from enemy governments, classified as non-frat governments like Russia, China, Cuba, as well as Iran, are in a different category altogether — what would normally be totally disqualifying.”
McCaul <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-house-republican-suggests-biden-official-could-have-committed-treason" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suggested</a> last summer Malley may have committed treason.
In January 2022, three U.S. officials working on the team negotiating with Iran <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bidens-iran-envoy-terrorist-groups-hamas-hezbollah-are-misunderstood-have-their-own-rationality" target="_blank" rel="noopener">left the group</a> because Malley would not take a harder negotiating position regarding sanctions.
Noronha said Malley and his negotiating team “purposefully funneled billions of dollars to [Iran] through lack of sanctions enforcement and provision of sanctions relief that has given them somewhere between $50 [billion] and $80 billion over the last two and a half years.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-admin-official-allegedly-part-of-covert-campaign-to-undermine-iranian-opposition-report">Biden Admin Official Allegedly Part Of ‘Covert Campaign’ To Undermine Iranian Opposition: Report</a>

US-IRAN-POLITICS-MALLEY

Top Republicans Reveal New Info In Criminal Probe Into Biden’s Iran Envoy

Biden Administration

Iran

Republicans

The FBI is on the hunt for an Iranian intelligence operative who has been allegedly plotting to assassinate current and former U.S. government officials, including Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state under former President Donald Trump.
Last week, the Bureau’s Miami field office <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorinfo/majid-dastjani-farahani" target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> a public alert as it sought information on Majid Dastjani Farahani, who is suspected of being a member of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, Semafor <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/03/04/2024/fbi-hunts-for-suspected-iranian-assassin-targeting-trump-era-officials" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The FBI warned of Farahani, 42, in a Most Wanted notice on Friday, saying that he speaks Farsi, French, Spanish, and English and will often move between Iran and Venezuela.
According to the FBI, Farahani was recruiting “individuals for various operations in the United States, to include lethal targeting of current and former United States Government officials” as part of a revenge operation for the U.S. taking out Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani in 2020 under Trump and Pompeo.
<div id="attachment_705411" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-705411" class=" wp-image-705411" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/Screen-Shot-2024-03-04-at-4.04.14-PM-300x216.png" alt="" width="600" height="432" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/Screen-Shot-2024-03-04-at-4.04.14-PM-300x216.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/Screen-Shot-2024-03-04-at-4.04.14-PM-798x576.png 798w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/Screen-Shot-2024-03-04-at-4.04.14-PM-768x554.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/Screen-Shot-2024-03-04-at-4.04.14-PM-1536x1108.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/03/Screen-Shot-2024-03-04-at-4.04.14-PM.png 1616w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" />MAJID DASTJANI FARAHANI/FBI Wanted Poster</div>
Semafor reported that U.S. officials said Pompeo and former special envoy for Iran Brian Hook were given 24-hour security after the FBI warned of Farahani. In 2022, the Department of Justice indicted members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for an alleged plot to assassinate former National Security Advisor John Bolton, who also served under Trump.
Farahani is also accused of recruiting people to run “surveillance activities focused on religious sites, businesses, and other facilities in the United States.”
Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike ordered by Trump in January 2020. The brutal Iranian general had been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops in Iraq, and the U.S. State Department <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/state-dept-iranian-general-killed-in-u-s-strike-responsible-for-17-of-american-deaths-in-iraq" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> Soleimani was directly behind 17% of all U.S. personnel deaths during the Iraq War.
Shortly after Soleimani’s death, the top Iranian general and other officials <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-iranian-general-revenge-for-soleimani-death-to-happen-within-u-s-no-one-will-forget-what-we-do" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vowed</a> that Iran would get <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/iran-vows-revenge-for-general-killed-by-u-s-says-it-will-hit-those-responsible" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revenge</a> on the U.S. Iran’s volatility raised concerns again when Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists launched an attack on Israel on October 7, killing over 1,200 and taking hundreds hostage into the Gaza Strip. The IRGC <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/irans-guard-corps-hamas-oct-7-attack-was-revenge-for-killing-of-soleimani-in-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> two months after the terrorist attack on Israel that it was “one of the revenges” for the killing of Soleimani.
While Hamas denied it had the same reason as the IRGC for its 10/7 atrocities, Iran’s threats, and thirst for bloodshed following the death of its beloved general were heard clearly. U.S. forces were even <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/multiple-u-s-soldiers-killed-dozens-injured-by-iranian-backed-terrorists-in-middle-east" target="_blank" rel="noopener">attacked</a> by Iranian-backed terrorists in January, and three American soldiers were <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-on-u-s-soldiers-killed-tragic-consequence-of-joe-bidens-weakness-and-surrender" target="_blank" rel="noopener">killed</a>.
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The Iranian-backed Houthis have also been causing chaos in the Red Sea and the Middle East, launching attacks on shipping vessels and Israeli forces. The U.S. has responded to the ongoing terrorist actions with limited strikes inside Yemen and a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-drone-strike-smokes-multiple-iranian-backed-terrorist-leaders-reports" target="_blank" rel="noopener">drone strike</a> that killed multiple terrorist leaders in Baghdad, Iraq, last month.

FBI Looking For Iranian Spy Who Is Allegedly Plotting Assassinations Of Trump Admin Officials

assassination

Donald Trump

Mike Pompeo

Qassem Soleimani

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-s-navy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Navy</a> service member was sentenced to just over two years in prison after he pled guilty to being bribed to send sensitive military information to a Chinese intelligence officer. 
Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, a 26-year-old from Monterey Park, California, was <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-navy-sailor-sentenced-27-months-prison-transmitting-sensitive-us-military-information" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sentenced</a> to just 27 months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,500 fine after his guilty plea for one count of conspiring with an intelligence officer and one count of receiving a bribe. Zhao <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-navy-service-member-pleads-guilty-transmitting-sensitive-us-military-information-chinese" target="_blank" rel="noopener">could</a> have faced up to 20 years in prison, 15 years for the conspiracy charge and 5 years for the bribery charge.
“Mr. Zhao betrayed his solemn oath to defend his country and endangered those who serve in the U.S. military,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “Today, he is being held to account for those crimes. The Justice Department is committed to combating the Chinese government’s efforts to undermine our nation’s security and holding accountable those who violate our laws as part of those efforts.” 
He was paid at least $14,866 by a Chinese intelligence officer for sending information on the U.S. Navy operational security, military trainings and exercises, and critical infrastructure, according to the DOJ. 
Rebeccah Heinrichs, senior fellow at Hudson Institute and the director of its Keystone Defense Initiative, slammed the “slap on the wrist” that Zhao received.
“He stole secrets about things that could get Americans killed, things related to operational security, military training, and key facilities” Heinrichs told The Daily Wire. “He did it over and over and sold it to our chief enemy. His slap on the wrist sentence is shocking and sends the wrong message at a tense time when China is relentlessly trying to recruit agents.”
The Navy service member, who had a security clearance, worked at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, California. The DOJ said that the bribery took place from August 2021 to May 2023 during which Zhao went into restricted locations to obtain information. 
The DOJ said that the information given to the Chinese intelligence officer included the plans of a large-scale training exercise in the Pacific and operational orders and documents on Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar system in Okinawa, Japan.
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“Zhao betrayed his country and disgraced himself when he accepted bribes from an intelligence officer with the People’s Republic of China,” said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California. “As a result, he has now been removed from the military and will serve time in federal prison. Today’s sentence shows that my office will swiftly act to root out and punish those who seek to undermine our nation’s security.”
The investigation was led by the FBI Los Angeles Field Office’s Counterintelligence and Cyber Division, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and the IRS-Criminal Investigation unit.

US Navy carriers Ford, Eisenhower in eastern Mediterranean

Navy Service Member Who Sold Secrets To China Sentenced To Just 27 Months In Prison

Bribery

California

U.S. Navy

According to federal officials, a potential spying threat has been posed by Chinese nationals posing as tourists who tested the security of military bases as well as other sensitive sites — and roughly 100 reported incidents have occurred.
The officials explained that quite often the incidents occur in rural areas where tourists are not typically found, and the nationals address the security guards with what appears to be scripted language, not normal discourse. When they are stopped, they insist they have simply gotten lost.
According to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/chinese-gate-crashers-at-u-s-bases-spark-espionage-concerns-cdef8187?mod=e2tw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wall Street Journal,</a> the Defense Department and FBI joined other agencies to study the issue, finding that the Chinese nationals were required to transmit the information they found back to the Communist Chinese government.
“The advantage the Chinese have is they are willing to throw people at collection in large numbers,” Emily Harding, a former deputy staff director at the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told the Journal. “If a few of them get caught, it will be very difficult for the U.S. government to prove anything beyond trespassing, and those who don’t get caught are likely to collect something useful.”
Some of the Chinese nationals gained unauthorized access to military bases “by speeding through security checkpoints,” Sue Gough, a Pentagon spokeswoman, admitted, adding, “These individuals are often cited criminally, barred from future installation access and escorted off-base.”
When the Journal contacted the Biden White House and the Department of Homeland Security, they declined to comment.
“The relevant claims are purely ill-intentioned fabrications,” Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, declared, snapping, “We urge the relevant U.S. officials to abandon the Cold War mentality, stop groundless accusations, and do more things that are conducive to enhancing mutual trust between the two countries and friendship between the two peoples.”
One case involved Chinese nationals who said they were tourists attempting to force their way past guards at the military base in Fort Wainwright, Alaska, the home to the Army’s 11th Airborne Division. Chinese nationals have reportedly repeatedly photographed the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/449089main_White_Sands_Missile_Range_Fact_Sheet.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">largest</a> overland military test range in the U.S.
Chinese nationals were reportedly found swimming near a Key West, Florida, military facility. They claimed they were tourists. Other Chinese nationals seemed to be scuba diving near Cape Canaveral, where spy satellites are sent into space, according to the Journal.
Last February, the U.S. military used an F-22 Raptor using a single air-to-air A9X sidewinder missile to bring down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina.
In early June, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/unbelievable-aggression-by-china-house-intel-chairman-responds-to-chinese-military-provocations-against-u-s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> ABC News&#8217; “This Week,” &#8220;What we&#8217;re seeing is an unbelievable aggression by China. If you look at the balloon that flew over the United States, the Chinese police stations, the aggressiveness against our both planes and ships in international water, it goes right to the heart of what President Xi said when he stood next to Putin in Russia, where he said, they&#8217;re trying to make change that had not happened in 100 years.&#8221;
“When you have, for example, a balloon that transits all across the United States, and the administration doesn&#8217;t respond until the game&#8217;s over, until it&#8217;s over the Atlantic, you start &#8212; and when you have police stations that have been operating within the United States, that took forever in order for them to take action, you get this sort of sense of permissiveness, that I think the administration needs to step up and make clear that China has identified itself as an adversary, and we&#8217;re going to treat it as such,” he added.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/unbelievable-aggression-by-china-house-intel-chairman-responds-to-chinese-military-provocations-against-u-s">&#8216;Unbelievable Aggression By China&#8217;: House Intel Chairman Responds To Chinese Military Provocations Against U.S.</a>

White Sands National Park – White Sands Missile Range, NM

Roughly 100 Incidents Where Chinese Nationals Tried To Access U.S. Military, Sensitive Sites: Report

Military Bases

Tourism

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/fbi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FBI</a> inappropriately searched for information on a U.S. senator using an intelligence provision intended for monitoring foreign nationals, a court opinion released Friday shows. 
The opinion from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court said that the FBI improperly searched a database for information on an unidentified U.S. senator, state senator, and judge. The FBI conducted the searches under powers derived from Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but the conditions for the searches were not met, the judge said, <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4110850-fbi-improperly-used-702-surveillance-powers-on-us-senator/">according</a> to The Hill.
“In June 2022, an analyst conducted four queries of Section 702 information using the last names of a U.S. senator and a state senator, without further limitation,” a court opinion from Judge Rudolph Contreras said.
Section 702 allows allows intelligence agencies to obtain the online communications of foreign nationals without a warrant.
Although the court said that a “a specific foreign intelligence service” was looking into two of the individuals, the FBI was not able to provide proper criteria for the searches as determined by the National Security Division at the Department of Justice.
Information on the judge was searched after he had accused a police chief of civil rights violations. 
A “Staff Operations Specialist ran a query using the Social Security number of a state judge who ‘had complained to [the] FBI about alleged civil right violations perpetrated by a municipal chief of police,’” the opinion said. 
Contreras said that the FBI had been doing “a better job in applying the querying standard” since the mistakes have been revealed. Previous documentation <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fbi-misused-surveillance-tool-over-278000-times-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">from the case indicates</a> that Section 702 was misused over 278,000 times to collect information on American citizens. 
The opinion was released after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued to make it public. The opinion was from April 2023. 
“The FBI continues to break the rules put in place to protect Americans, running illegal searches on public officials including a U.S. senator, and it’s long past time for Congress to step in. As Congress debates reauthorizing Section 702, these opinions make clear why fundamental reforms are urgently needed,” Patrick Toomey, of the ACLU National Security Project, told The Hill in a statement. 
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FBI Director Christopher Wray said that the FBI had implemented “substantial reforms” over its use of Section 702.
&#8220;Compliance is an ongoing endeavor, and we recently announced new additional accountability measures,&#8221; Wray <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fbi-improperly-searched-intel-database-info-us-senator/story?id=101554896" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;We will continue to focus on using our Section 702 authorities to protect American lives and keeping our Homeland safe, while safeguarding civil rights and liberties.&#8221;
Section 702, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nsa-asks-for-reauthorization-of-surveillance-powers-as-republicans-prepare-to-investigate-security-agencies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first implemented</a> in 2008, was renewed by then-President Donald Trump in 2018 even after he <a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-donald-trump-politics-077b8a0f34354149ac2b55ce533f203a">said</a> the power was linked to the widely discredited Steele Dossier that purported to have evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. After initial skepticism, Trump renewed the powers following a discussion with then-House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI). 
Intelligence officials have urged lawmakers to renew the powers at the end of the year, but some lawmakers have remained skeptical, especially with concerns over a politicized FBI.

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