State Department Officer Gets 4 Years in Prison for Selling Defense Secrets to China

A State Department staffer was sentenced on Sept. 4 to four years in prison for selling defense intelligence to individuals believed to be working for the Chinese government.

Michael Schena, 42, was a South Caribbean desk officer in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the State Department’s Washington headquarters and held a top secret security clearance, allowing him access to information that could “cause exceptionally grave damage” to national security, according to court documents.