Top U.S. scientist arrested after attempting to sell satellite secrets to Israel



A top U.S. scientist has been arrested for attempting to sell secrets to Israel.

Stewart Nozette has worked on projects for the White House and the U.S. Defence Department and was involved in cutting-edge Moon exploration.

The scientist was caught in a sting operation when an FBI agent posed as a member Israel's Mossad spy agency.

Israel had no knowledge or involvement in the operation, a spokesman for the Justice Department said.

Jailed: Stewart Nozette narrowly escaped the death penalty after admitting trying to sell U.S. secrets to Israeli spies

Nozette was arrested at his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and could make his first court appearance later today.

The affidavit by FBI agent Leslie Martell said that on September 3, Nozette received a telephone call from an individual purporting to be an Israeli intelligence officer, but who was actually an undercover FBI agent.



He agreed to meet with the agent later that day at a hotel in Washington and in the subsequent meeting the two discussed Nozette's willingness to work for Israeli intelligence, court papers say.

Nozette allegedly informed the agent that he had, in the past, held top security clearances and had access to U.S. satellite information.



The scientist also allegedly said that he would be willing to answer questions about this information in exchange for money. The agent explained that the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, would arrange for a communication system so Nozette could pass on information in a post office box.



Nozette agreed to provide regular, continuing information and asked for an Israeli passport, the affidavit alleged.



Respected: Nozette (second right) at a press briefing at the Pentagon about the discovery of water on the moon in 1996

According to the court papers, Nozette and the undercover agent met soon afterward in the same hotel, where the scientist allegedly said that while he no longer had legal access to any classified information at a U.S. government facility, he could recall classified information from memory.



Nozette allegedly told the agent: 'Well, I should tell you my first need is that they should figure out how to pay me ... they don't expect me to do this for free.'

About a week later, FBI agents left a letter in the designated post office box, asking Nozette to answer a list of questions about U.S. satellite information. The agents provided a $2,000 cash payment.



Nozette was later captured on videotape leaving a manila envelope in the post office box. The next day, agents retrieved the sealed envelope and found, among other things, a one-page document containing answers to the questions and an encrypted computer thumb drive.



One answer contained information classified as secret, which concerned capabilities of a prototype overhead collection system.



Nozette allegedly offered to reveal additional classified information that directly concerned nuclear weaponry, military spacecraft or satellites, and other major weapons systems.



Agents then asked for more information, and again he allegedly provided it, in exchange for a cash payment of $9,000.

Nozette is credited with helping discover evidence of water on the moon

From 1998 to 2008, the complaint alleges, Nozette was a technical adviser for a consultant company that was wholly owned by the Israeli government. Nozette was paid about $225,000 over that period, the court papers say.



Then, in January of this year, Nozette allegedly travelled to another foreign country with two computer thumb drives and apparently did not return with them.

Prosecutors also quote an unnamed colleague of Nozette who said the scientist said that if the U.S. government ever tried to put him in jail for an unrelated criminal offence, he would go to Israel or another foreign country and 'tell them everything' he knows.



Over the course of his career, Nozette performed some of his research at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in Arlington, Virginia, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.



His arrest comes just days after Adlene Hicheur, a scientist who worked at the CERN nuclear research laboratory, admitted pinpointing targets for Al Qaeda, likely to have included Britain and France.



Nozette worked in various roles for the Energy Department and NASA. In 1989 and 1990, he worked for the White House's National Space Council.



He developed the Clementine bi-static radar experiment that is credited with discovering water on the south pole of the moon. He also worked at the Energy Department's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he designed highly advanced technology, from approximately 1990 to 1999.



At Energy, Nozette held a special security clearance equivalent to the Defence Department's top secret and 'critical nuclear weapon design information' clearances.



DOE clearances apply to access to information specifically relating to atomic or nuclear-related materials.

Nozette also held top offices at the Alliance for Competitive Technology, a nonprofit corporation that he organised. Between January 2000 and February 2006, Nozette, through his company, had several agreements to develop advanced technology for the US government.