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back to article Spycatchers accuse nuke boffin of selling secrets to 'Mossad'

A senior US government satellite scientist has been arrested for attempted espionage after being caught in a complex sting operation targeting his links to Israel. Stewart David Nozette, 52, is expected to make an initial court appearance today. He will stand accused of attempting to sell classified information to an …

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  1. The Original Ash

    Approached by the FBI?

    I take it America's entrappment laws don't cover National Security investigations.

    Like "Where does the President spend a lot of his time? I'll give you $5000 for this information."

    "Uhhh, the White House?"

    "FREEZE! FBIYOUAREUNDERARRESTFORTERRORISMDONOTPASSGOPROCEEDDIRECTLYTOFEDERALPITAPRISON."

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    hmm

    interesting difference, sell secrets to foreign nationals - have a large investigation, sting operations, evidence.

    Have an acquaintance who may have a relation to Islamic fundamentalist terrorism go direct to no job and court.

    I could be being ungenerous of course.

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What happened last time?

    http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/spytalk/2009/04/source-wiretap-caught-harman-d.html

    Seems to me all that ever happens is a slap on the wrist when these spies get caught.

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  4. Mathew White
    IT Angle

    Different case

    Unlike the previous well publicised FBI sting where an Armenian immigrant was claiming they could sell them super evil rockets that turned out to be him trying to scam the undercover agent, this actually seems to be a genuine case of a person selling 'secrets' to a foreign agency. And information that could potentially lead to a large gaping crater between Tel-Aviv and Tehran.

    I find it interesting that America considers Israel as someone it is bad to sell nuke secrets to, considering they practically endorse the Israeli Nuclear Bomb program and its 110+ warheads (A-Bombs i believe) by refusing to acknowledge that they even exits.

    Maybe if america put pressure on Israel regarding its nuclear capacity, the Iranians might not be so peeved when the west accuses them of developing nuclear weapons every week. Look at Pakistan and India. Once one was confident that they could anihilate the other should the need arrsise they both chilled out a bit, not much, but a bit. But I digress.

    PS: Can we get a end-of-the-world-mushroom-cloud icon Moderatrix? Pretty please.

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  5. Daniel 1

    Defenders of our freedom

    Whenever I read about the fine and upstanding behaviour of these Defenders of the Free World... well, you know? I feel compelled to give them a great big database, full of everyone's DNA, to play with, or something...

    (I'm now left wondering what the 'other matter', that the US government might have charged him with, was, that it merited selling atom bomb secrets to a middle eastern power. Child porn? Tax evasion? Trawling through government computers looking for Flying Saucer material, perhaps?)

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  6. Ross 7

    Re: different case

    Israel having nukes and a few satellites is a whole other kettle of fish to Israel *making* nukes and advanced satellites. Make no mistake, America isn't Israels friend. It merely gives it the tools to do Americas bidding. Lord forbid they should be able to stand on their own two feet and ignore America.

    Personally I don't get the issue with nukes. The material science is a bit complex what with UF6 being kinda "tetchy" , but t***ing two 8Kg lumps of U-235 together a few hundred feet over Tehran ain't rocket science (ok, so there's *some* rocket science involved in getting over Tehran...)

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  7. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

    @The Original Ash

    This is not entrapment. Entrapment is maneuvuring someone law abiding into a situation where they break the law, whereas this was more of a sting.. this person was already (probably) selling secrets, and they just set up a situation where they'd have solid evidence of it.

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @What happened last time

    Admittedly it's rare, but Jonathan Pollard got more than a slap on the wrist. And the FBI has been looking for a highly placed mole, known only as "Mega", for more than two years since they overheard the name in an intercepted phone call between an Israeli intelligence officer in Washington and his superior in Tel Aviv.

    Nozette, meanwhile, is condemned out of his own mouth. From the criminal complaint filed in the US District Court, District of Columbia, speaking to an undercover agent who identified himself as a Mossad agent:

    "I thought I was working for you already. I mean that's what I always thought, [the foreign company] was just a front."

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  9. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    Mega Warhead

    Mega, hhhm? Do we know if his voice sounds like it's very MONOTONE? Like it would cause the wallpaper to fall off a wall?

    Do we think that Mega is a big mover and shaker in the realm of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs?

    Ding Ding DIng! I think we have a WINNER!!

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