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Department of State Employee Charged for Conspiracy to Gather, Transmit, or Lose National Defense Information
Justice.gov ^ | March 7, 2025 | DOJ - Office of Public Affairs

Posted on 03/07/2025 9:52:19 PM PST by ransomnote

View the complaint affidavit.

Michael Charles Schena, 42, of Alexandria, Virginia, was arrested on criminal charges related to his alleged participation in a criminal conspiracy to gather, transmit, or lose national defense information.

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. 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 authorized to receive. 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.        

Schena is charged with conspiracy to gather, transmit, or lose national defense 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 Fedor of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.

A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Updated March 7, 2025

Topics
National Security
Counterintelligence
Components

Press Release Number: 25-237



TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: aidandcomfort; espionage; michaelcharlesschena; michaelschena; nationalsecurity; rico; treason
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1 posted on 03/07/2025 9:52:19 PM PST by ransomnote
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To: ransomnote

Good


2 posted on 03/07/2025 9:55:02 PM PST by madison10
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To: ransomnote

Conspiracy to “lose” secret information? That’s a new one.
I suppose it’s like how I “lost” those guns in a boating accident?


3 posted on 03/07/2025 9:57:02 PM PST by monkeyshine (live and let live is dead)
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Comment #4 Removed by Moderator

To: SaveFerris

That cannot be him. That guy looks like 62 or older.


5 posted on 03/07/2025 10:03:14 PM PST by madison10
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To: SaveFerris

https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/C5603AQFU_lYehauZuw/profile-displayphoto-shrink_200_200/0/1517582944676?e=2147483647&v=beta&t=n6ndFdwwvzn1mlfSshPV3a6h3eMVG8B9Gd-neqrtQ90

Probably this guy. His age looks correct and he works (ed) at the Dept. of State.


6 posted on 03/07/2025 10:11:23 PM PST by madison10
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To: madison10

Thanks - I’ll push the abuse button

We want data to be accurate (but jokes to be funny...)


7 posted on 03/07/2025 10:13:58 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: SaveFerris

That’s the guy that was recently executed by firing squad in SC.


8 posted on 03/07/2025 10:15:45 PM PST by Nervous Tick (Hope, as a righteous product of properly aligned Faith, IS in fact a strategy.)
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To: Nervous Tick; null and void

Yeah I thought something was off there - Gooooooooogle often associates the wrong picture

BUT I pushed the abuse button

I reported myself to the mods so Nully doesn’t have to

I’ll get Nully ... ONE OF THESE DAYS ... to buy me some Taco Bell ...


9 posted on 03/07/2025 10:20:57 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: SaveFerris

:-)


10 posted on 03/07/2025 10:24:29 PM PST by Nervous Tick (Hope, as a righteous product of properly aligned Faith, IS in fact a strategy.)
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To: SaveFerris

How old? FFS. THis is and example of DC garbage. Town needs an enema.


11 posted on 03/07/2025 10:37:49 PM PST by KC_Conspirator
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To: KC_Conspirator; Nervous Tick

It’s the wrong picture - like NT said - it’s the guy executed today - Gooooooooooogle software attaches the incorrect picture to a story link - it happens when news channels (of course) have several stories filed on one page - I’ve seen it before


12 posted on 03/07/2025 10:44:10 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: KC_Conspirator; Nervous Tick; madison10
Looks like another picture has become available now


13 posted on 03/07/2025 10:51:54 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: All

ndtv.com

Michael Charles Schena, 42, was charged with conspiring to gather and transmit US national defense information to people not authorized to receive it. Schena, who has worked at State Dept headquarters in Washington, held a top secret security clearance and had access to information up to the secret level, the Justice Dept said in a statement.

Schena, a South Caribbean desk officer, has not yet entered a plea. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and a State Department spokesperson did not immediately comment.

He accepted payments in return for sharing information with people he met through “various communication platforms” beginning in April 2022, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Surveillance footage captured Schena photographing at least five diplomatic documents marked secret at a State Department work station last month, according to the complaint. He was arrested the same day outside his Virginia home.

It is not immediately clear what the documents were or with whom they were shared. An invoice referenced in the criminal complaint referred to “CNY”, which authorities said they believe to be a reference to China’s yuan.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)


14 posted on 03/07/2025 11:17:46 PM PST by Liz
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To: SaveFerris

I believe that is the guy that just got the death penalty by being shot.


15 posted on 03/07/2025 11:32:04 PM PST by Bikkuri (I am proud to be a PureBlood.)
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To: Bikkuri

See #13 I’m trying to get that one deleted


16 posted on 03/07/2025 11:51:27 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: SaveFerris

Yeah, I saw.. but, as per the FR rules, we shouldn’t read be fore we post ;)


17 posted on 03/08/2025 12:10:14 AM PST by Bikkuri (I am proud to be a PureBlood.)
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To: Bikkuri
I myself try VERY HARD to maintain the fine tradition


18 posted on 03/08/2025 12:11:58 AM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: SaveFerris

That one is good!


19 posted on 03/08/2025 12:12:26 AM PST by Bikkuri (I am proud to be a PureBlood.)
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To: ransomnote

bttt


20 posted on 03/08/2025 12:13:23 AM PST by linMcHlp
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