Top US scientist held for spying

To me, there is absolutely no crime that is more despicable or worthy of scorn as betraying a position of trust. This guy was entrusted with the highest level of clearance possible for a government employee, and decided to betray his country when the opportunity presented itself.

Kudos to the FBI, they have been on their game as of late...


Space Scientist Is Held as Spy

FBI Arrests U.S. Government Physicist in Sting Operation Involving Nuclear Secrets

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125600137727795549.html?mod=googlenews_wsj#

By EVAN PEREZ

WASHINGTON -- A top U.S. space researcher was arrested in a Federal Bureau of Investigation sting Monday and charged with attempting to spy for Israel.

Stewart Nozette, 52 years old, of Chevy Chase, Md., is a former government physicist who worked for agencies ranging from the Defense Department to the White House.

In exchange for thousands of dollars in cash and an Israeli passport, Mr. Nozette allegedly attempted to pass on U.S. top-secret nuclear and space secrets to an FBI agent who was posing as an Israeli intelligence operative, according to an FBI affidavit filed with the criminal complaint in the case.

An attorney for Mr. Nozette didn't immediately respond to a call seeking comment. Mr. Nozette is expected to make his first appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington. If convicted, Mr. Nozette faces up to life in prison.

Other alleged spy cases in recent years involving Israel include one that collapsed in May against two former lobbyists for a pro-Israel group. U.S. officials said the Nozette case doesn't include allegations that Israel or its agents were involved.

The FBI affidavit doesn't explain how Mr. Nozette came to the attention of U.S. investigators. However, the affidavit describes Mr. Nozette's work over the past decade for an Israeli aerospace company that is wholly owned by the Israeli government. During a security search as he departed on a foreign trip in January, a security officer noted he was traveling with two small portable hard drives, which another government officer couldn't locate in a subsequent search as Mr. Nozette re-entered the U.S.

A spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington didn't respond to a request for comment.

"Those who would put our nation's defense secrets up for sale can expect to be vigorously prosecuted," said Channing D. Phillips, acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

FBI wiretaps cited in the government affidavit quote Mr. Nozette telling the undercover federal agent that his former top-secret security clearances allowed him access to sensitive nuclear and intelligence secrets.

"I don't get recruited by Mossad every day. I knew this day would come," Mr. Nozette allegedly is heard on wiretaps telling the FBI agent, according to the affidavit.

The FBI agent arranged for Mr. Nozette to use a location previously set up -- a "dead-drop" -- at a post-office box in Washington, provided him a cellphone to send text messages, and set up an alias for use in his new Israeli identification documents, according to the affidavit. In a post-office box dead-drop last month, Mr. Nozette left a sealed manila envelope containing an encrypted portable hard drive, the affidavit says. The drive contained classified information on satellite programs supporting U.S. military and intelligence operations.

While the affidavit indicates that Mr. Nozette at first appeared suspicious about the espionage arrangements, it also relates how the undercover agent gained Mr. Nozette's trust and he is heard on a wiretap saying of the post-office drops: "that seems kind of Mossad-like." The FBI affidavit quotes Mr. Nozette offering to provide additional classified information on nuclear and other weapons systems, as well as military spacecraft or satellites. He explained that he would earn his keep, according to affidavit, because some of the information would have to be from memory, since he no longer has the necessary security clearances. "These are among the most sensitive subjects and it will have to be recreated from memory over some time," the FBI affidavit quotes him as saying.

Mr. Nozette, a Chicago native, was prominent in his field. He helped develop a radar experiment, now displayed at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, that is said to have detected water on the moon's south pole.

 

I fail to see the connection there. Espionage is pretty much a given, especially when you are a powerful and technologically advanced country like we are in the U.S. The simple fact is many nations want to steal our technological secrets, even companies spy on each other to try and get a leg up on the competition. It has nothing to do with the Middle East. In this case, Israel has a well-earned reputation of having one of the most active spy networks in the U.S., but so does China, Turkey, Russia and a few others. The FBI likely went ahead with the sting operation because they found out this guy, in particular, had a pattern of behavior that showed 'favor' to a foreign nation, or perhaps because he had certain interests that would tie him to Israel or Israeli nationals.

He wasn't approached is the most likely answer. Also, that was probably not the place or time to do it, too much exposure there.

It looks like there were a few indications/patterns of behavior/personal history that may have aroused their interests. But based on what I read so far, Israel was not involved in any way, let alone aware of the investigation.

If you read the quotes mentioned in the article, he seemed to be expecting the 'Mossad' to get in touch, eventually. And when 'they' did (obviously a fake Mossad agent here) that provided him with the opportunity, and he was willing to do it for seemingly little reward/a small favor (likely an indication that he would have done it anyways without much of a material incentive). But it seems like the FBI had legitimate concerns and they followed up on what they considered to be suspicious behavior. If you remember the Dallas terrorism case from a few weeks back, that Jordanian kid was all over the Internet expressing his desire to carry out an attack on the U.S. So he had the intent, and a sting operation was the logical next step. In this case, the sting operation was probably a logical next step/maneuver as well, given the man's background (his employment history, him taking sensitive material while traveling overseas, etc). They may have deduced from his actions/past history that he was at least willing to consider giving up or selling classified information to a foreign government. It is how these investigations usually start. Of course, holding a security clearance and working with highly sensitive information puts a person under enormous scrutiny, and rightfully so.

 

::sighs::

Let me say it again, perhaps it will register this time: Israeli agents were NOT involved in any way, shape or form in this particular case...the facts we have don't implicate the state of Israel in anything. The only guilty party here is the scientist who attempted to pass on classified information to an FBI agent/informant POSING as Mossad. So lets keep the Israel bashing out of this thread, please.

Here is an older story about two former State Dept employees who took it upon themselves to spy for Cuba:

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5546CA20090605

Foreign countries do not necessarily recruit spies based on their ethnic backgrounds or any perceived 'affinity' to an ethnic homeland (e.g. Israel recruiting Jewish-Americans, Cuba recruiting Cuban-Americans, or China recruiting Chinese-Americans). In some cases, it is more advantageous to recruit someone who would not be unnecessarily scrutinized because of his/her ethnic background (e.g. Chinese- or Muslim-Americans) or place of birth (naturalized citizens, for instance). Our enemies (and increasingly, unfortunately, our 'friends') know how to play the game, and it would be to the detriment of our counterintelligence efforts if we followed such narrow-minded logic, we already know from past instances that it could be just about anyone, given the right circumstances. The cases of Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames come to mind.

 

More to read here if you have some interest in this topic...

http://www.military.com/news/article/ex-fbi-translator-claims-spying-at-dod.html

 

Response/commentary from some Jewish-American leaders on the arrest of Nozette.


Steve Rosen: CIA, FBI paranoid about Mossad

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1256037270857&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Printer

Oct. 21, 2009

E.B. SOLOMONT, JPost correspondent in NEW YORK , THE JERUSALEM POST

Charges of espionage against US Defense Department scientist Stewart Nozette reflect "extreme views" against Israel that could harm US-Israel relations, former AIPAC staffer Steve Rosen told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

Rosen, AIPAC's former foreign policy chief who was accused, with Keith Weissman, of passing along classified information, said it was revealing that Israel was inserted into the narrative of Nozette's entrapment and subsequent arrest. The case against Rosen and Weissman was dismissed last spring.

"One of the things that our case revealed is the very extreme views that are held by some in counterintelligence agencies of the CIA and FBI about Israel," Rosen said. "They believe that the Mossad spied on the US on a huge scale and they believe that the Pollard case was the tip of some sort of iceberg.

"When you keep repeating that the Mossad is spying on America, Israel is harming the United States, of course it harms the alliance between Israel and the US," he continued. "The current case is even more peculiar because the government of Israel did nothing.

"It's revealing that they used Israel for the sting," Rosen added. "They could have used China, or others. But they chose Israel."

Describing an "obsession" with Israel within certain parts of the CIA and FBI, Rosen said if his own case had gone to trial, details reflecting the extreme views of his investigators would have come out. "There was no wrongdoing," he said, reflecting on the case against him and Weissman.

"But we go through this all the time. There is a faction in the counterintelligence bureaucracies that is fomenting these tales," he said. "They are methodically trying to create the impression that Mossad is under every bed."

Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said the Nozette case is part of a "troubling" pattern of targeting Israel and Jews as potential spies against the United States.

"I am not naïve enough to believe that there aren't efforts to obtain information in all kinds of ways," Foxman said. But, he asked, "Why is it that we don't hear of any other country, except for Israel? I find that troubling."

The US Defense Department has repeatedly singled out Jewish employees for possible disloyalty, Foxman said. The situation has escalated, with increasing cases of Jews having difficulty obtaining security clearance. If you have relatives in Israel, speak Hebrew, or practice Orthodox Judaism, he said, "changes are, you won't get clearance. That's the mindset out there."

Weissman's attorney in the AIPAC case, Baruch Weiss, said he knew very little about Nozette, only what he read in media reports.

However, "this case certainly raises the legitimate question of whether this was a legitimate sting or whether it was an unfairly selective sting aimed at Jews to test dual loyalty," Weiss said.