Something tells me this fellow isn't cut out to be a spy

A few weeks ago, a tweet from Pete Strzok came across my Twitter timeline. (Pete is a former FBI agent whose anti-Trump text exchanges with FBI lawyer Lisa Page, while the two were carrying on an affair, became a matter of great notoriety. The two became frequent targets of Trump's tweeting wrath, and he still goes after them now and again. Drummed out of the FBI, Pete now writes, teaches at Georgetown, and frequently shows up on MSNBC. His voice is quite similar to that of another Peter: Buttigieg. Although Pete B is cuter, they even vaguely resemble each other. For the record, I'm a fan of both.)

Anyway, Pete tweeted: Hard to envision more inculpatory evidence.  This comment was followed by a screen shot of an excerpt from a Department of Justice filing outlining charges against former U.S. Army Sergeant Joseph Schmidt.  

Schmidt's google searches and click throughs included "chinese consulate" "soldier defect" and "can you be indicted for treason" 

Pete's next tweet, Oh Wait, was accompanied by another highlighted screen shot from the filing:

Oh Wait is right. 

In early October, Schmidt was arrested after deplaning a flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco. He's been indicted for "retention of an attempt to deliver national defense information," and is facing 10 years in prison and a hefty fine for each charge.

Schmidt, who is 29, left the military in 2020: 

During a trip to Istanbul the same month he left  military, Schmidt made nearly 30 Google searches related to defection and spilling military secrets, ranging from “countries with most negative relations with US” to “what is China’s intelligence agency?” and “soldier defect,” according to an FBI investigative report.

Other search terms included “subreddit spying” and “looking for a subreddit about spy stuff.”

Schmidt also queried Google Maps for driving directions from Beijing’s airport to the headquarters of China’s Ministry of State Security, which has a similar role to the CIA.

On Feb. 24, 2020, Schmidt sent a message to the Chinese Consulate in Istanbul requesting a meeting, calling himself a United States citizen looking to move to China.”

“I also am trying to share information I learned during my career as an interrogator with the Chinese government,” he wrote.

“I have a current top-secret clearance, and would like to talk to someone from the Government to share this information with you if that is possible.” (Source: NY Post)

All that's missing is evidence of Schmidt using Maxwell Smart's shoe phone to call information for Xi Jinping's number.

While in the Army, Schmidt led an intelligence squad, which apparently didn't have intelligence as a job requirement.

But Schmidt, in reaching out to the Chinese consulate, does claim that he was trained in interrogation techniques, that he'd been a spy handler, and that he had training in "surveillance detection and other advanced psychological operation strategies."

He also mentioned that he wanted to meet someone face to face to spill the spy tea because he was concerned that using email might not be all that secure.

Guess not. 

While he was trying to pique Chinese internet, Schmidt continue googling, searching for "What Do Real Spies Do and How are they Recruited."

For starters, ex-Army Sgt. Joseph Schmidt, real spies don't make incriminating online searches. 

Nor do they stuff info into a doc titled "High Level Secrets," which I guess was a companion piece to "Important Information to Share with Chinese Government."

I'm all for giving files clear names so that you know what's in them without having to opening them, but, sheesh. Guess this guy never heard the word "discretion."

Unfortunately for Schmidt, he separated from the service just as the pandemic was starting, so couldn't find the job of his dreams which was, I guess, spy. Or failing that, find any old job in China where he could keep trying to achieve his goal.

Schmidt also tried to get a Chinese ID card firm to "reverse engineer” a smart card used to access the US military’s internal intelligence network “where top secret documents and information are kept.” In approaching the firm, Schmidt touted his card as "very rare" and guaranteed to help the Chinese access U.S. defense information systems.

Head's up professional that he was, he also ginned up a 28-slide PowerPoint preso that included classified info. 

After eventually securing a work permit to stay in Hong Kong, Schmidt had written to his sister that he was disenchanted with U.S. policy and was never coming back home. 

“I don’t talk about it often, but I learned some really terrible things about the American government while I was working in the Army, and I no longer feel safe living in America,” he wrote, according to the report.

Not saying that the American government hasn't done some terrible things, but how is it that Schmidt wasn't familiar with the government of China?

No word on why Schmidt had decided to come in from the cold and return to America, but it looks like his visit might end up a good long one, and be mostly behind bars. 

Maybe he'll learn a useful skill in prison. He clearly didn't learn much about spying from his time in Army intelligence.