The US Department of Justice on Friday announced criminal charges against a State Department employee who is accused of performing criminal conspiracy to gather, transmit, or lose national defence information.

The accused has been identified as 42-year-old Michael Charles Schena from Alexandria, Virginia.

According to court documents, Schena is employed by the U.S. Department of State (DOS) working out of DOS Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

"Schena held a top secret security clearance and had access to information up to the secret level within his DOS workspace," US Department of Justice said in a statement.

Beginning in or about April 2022, Schena allegedly communicated with people he met online through various communication platforms and provided them with information they were not authorised to receive.

Schena Received Payments

In return, Schena received payments. On Feb. 27, Schena allegedly used a cellphone to take images of multiple documents, which were displayed on the monitor of his classified computer and marked as “SECRET.”

Schena then allegedly left work and returned to his home in Alexandria, where the cellphone was seized.

Penalty And Prison Term

Schena is charged with conspiracy to gather, transmit, or lose national defence information and faces a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI Washington Field Office investigated the case with assistance from the FBI Richmond Field Office, the Department of Justice’s Office of Enforcement Operations, and the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service Office of Counterintelligence.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Ben’Ary and Gavin R. Tisdale for the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Maria Faedor of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.