A U.S. Department of State employee was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison for conspiring to transmit classified national defense information to individuals he believed were working for the Chinese government.
Michael Charles Schena, 42, of Alexandria, Virginia, was handed a 48-month sentence by U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff in the Eastern District of Virginia. According to court documents, Schena began communicating in April 2022 with individuals he met online who posed as employees of international consulting firms but whom he believed were connected to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). He provided them sensitive government information in exchange for money.
In August 2024, Schena met an individual at a hotel in Peru who gave him $10,000 and a cellphone intended for receiving taskings and transmitting information. In October 2024, while at work, he used the device to photograph and send at least four classified documents containing national defense information that were marked SECRET. In February 2025, surveillance video recorded him again using the same device to photograph seven additional SECRET documents with national defense information, but FBI agents seized the cellphone before the images could be transmitted and subsequently arrested him.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said Schena “threw away his career, betrayed his country, and abused the trust the United States placed in him by granting his Top Secret security clearance.” U.S. Attorney Erik S. Siebert for the Eastern District of Virginia called Schena’s actions a “disgraceful betrayal,” adding that the defendant’s selfishness forced others in the intelligence community to bear the cost of his conduct.
Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division remarked that Schena “deliberately undermined U.S. national security and put American lives at risk,” noting that the Chinese government continues to target U.S. clearance holders. Daniel Wierzbicki, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Counterintelligence and Cyber Division, emphasized that Schena’s duty had been to promote U.S. security but instead he “jeopardized national security by transmitting classified information to individuals whom he believed worked for an adversarial government.”
The FBI Washington Field Office and Richmond Field Office led the investigation with assistance from the Department of Justice’s Office of Enforcement Operations and the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service Office of Counterintelligence. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Ben’Ary and Gavin R. Tisdale and Trial Attorney Maria Fedor of the DOJ’s National Security Division prosecuted the case.
Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino stated on X that “no amount of money is worth betraying your country” and pledged the bureau would “do EVERYTHING in our power to bring traitors like Schena to justice.” He thanked the FBI’s field offices, Justice Department, and State Department counterintelligence officials for their roles in the case, urging all government clearance holders to remain vigilant against foreign targeting.
The sentencing comes amid increased scrutiny of misconduct at the State Department. Earlier this year, another employee was dismissed after an undercover video appeared to show him advising illegal aliens, primarily Hispanic, on how to evade deportation and making disparaging remarks about Yemenis, Indians, and white people, as well as expressing hostility toward Elon Musk. In response, the State Department explained that it would expand contractor screening and vetting processes.
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