By JASON RYAN
Oct. 19, 2009
FBI agents arrested a scientist who worked for NASA and other agencies Monday afternoon in a sting operation after he allegedly attempted to sell top secret satellite information to agents he thought were Israeli spies.
The Justice Department said Monday that 52-year-old Stewart David Nozette of Chevy Chase was charged in a criminal complaint with attempting to communicate, deliver and transmit classified information to an individual he believed to be an Israeli
The Justice Department said Monday that 52-year-old Stewart Nozette, shown in this file photo, was charged in a criminal complaint with attempting to communicate, deliver and transmit classified information to an individual he believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer.
Stewart Nozette, 52, was arrested shortly after 4:00 p.m. at the Mayflower Hotel in downtown Washington by counterespionage agents from the FBI's Washington field office after he believed he was meeting with agents from the Mossad to pass information to them in exchange for money, the Justice Department said.
Nozette had been under investigation for some time according to an FBI affidavit and court records involving his firm, the Alliance for Competitive Technology (ACT). In early January 2009 as he traveled overseas, a security check of his personal bags indicated he had two computer thumb drives in his possession; yet, when he returned on his trip, the drives were no longer in his possession, according to the government.
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OCTOBER 19, 2009, 9:42 P.M. ET
U.S. Space Researcher Arrested on Spy Charges
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 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, where if convicted he could face a life sentence.
The case recalls other alleged spy cases in recent years involving Israel, including 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 posing as an Israeli agent, according to the affidavit.
The FBI agent, using stock methods often found on the pages of John le Carré novels, arranged for Mr. Nozette to use "dead drops" 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 dropped off 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.
Mr. Nozette, a Chicago native, was prominent in his field, working at government laboratories and research centers for decades. 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.
Write to Evan Perez at evan.perez@wsj.com
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