Former US government scientist Stewart Nozette was once at the cutting edge of space exploration, but instead of resting on those laurels he will spend 13 years in prison for trying to sell some of his country’s most closely guarded secrets.
He once sketched on a napkin a concept for satellite technology that eventually helped confirm that there was water on the moon, but in 2009 Nozette sought to sell classified information to someone he thought was an Israeli intelligence officer, but was an FBI agent in an undercover sting operation.
Nozette, 54, pleaded guilty in September last year to trying to provide classified information about US satellites, early-warning systems, communications intelligence and other information to the agent who was posing as an Israeli Mossad agent.
US District Judge Paul Friedman on Wednesday sentenced him to 13 years in prison, a term that had been agreed to as part of Nozette’s plea deal. The judge also sentenced him to 37 months for unrelated tax and fraud charges, a sentence that will run concurrently with the espionage term.
The scientist has been in custody since his arrest in October 2009 and will get credit for time already served. The criminal charges did not allege that Israel was involved in the plot or scheme.
His lawyers and federal prosecutors clashed during the sentencing hearing about the reasons Nozette tried to pass secrets to someone he thought was an Israeli spy.
Nozette was already under federal investigation for a tax and fraud case at the time he was arrested for attempted espionage and he said he should have come forward to report the initial contact by the purported Israeli agent.
“It was a fatal lack of judgement ... I accept full responsibility for this error,” he told the court, standing before the judge in an orange-colored prison jumpsuit.
Nozette was also ordered to pay just over US$200,000 in restitution for the tax and fraud case, though his lawyers said he was broke and his wife had left him.
Nozette admitted that did try to sell information, but his lawyers said he was under tremendous pressure from the other investigation which was forcing him out of the space program at a critical discovery time.
His lawyers also acknowledged that some information related to a project Nozette worked on was stored on his home computer, but said that the program was classified afterwards.
Prosecutors countered that Nozette hid classified information in a safe deposit box in California as further evidence of his betrayal and that he demanded cash during one meeting with the undercover agent and said it “is good for anything ... you can eat it, drink it or screw it.”
The prosecutors played clips of video surveillance from Nozette’s meetings with the undercover agent in a posh Washington hotel during which he negotiated payment for turning over classified information.
Anthony Asuncion, one of the prosecutors on the case said after playing the video clips that Nozette was seeking to betray his country “with a smile on his face.”
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the