US space scientist indicted, may have aided Israel

A US scientist, who played a key role in India's Chandrayaan mission in finding evidence of water on the Moon, has been indicted for attempted espionage for allegedly trying to supply classified defence information on satellites and early warning systems to Israel.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested 52-year-old Stewart David Nozette on Monday on allegations that he tried to pass national secrets to the Israeli government in exchange for money. The information Nozette allegedly tried to provide Israel in an FBI sting operation dealt with "satellites, early warning systems, means of defence or retaliation against large-scale attack, communications intelligence information and major elements of defence strategy," says the indictment.

Nozette is accused of passing secrets to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer. The agent called Nozette in early September, and the scientist said he would be willing to work as a spy, authorities claimed. Over the next few weeks, the agent paid Nozette US $ 11,000 in cash, left in two instalments in a DC post office box, authorities alleged. Nozette took the cash and written questions left by the FBI agent, the Washington Post quoted authorities as charging.

Nozette, a Mini-RF principal investigator from the Universities Space Research Association's Lunar and Planetary Institute, was widely quoted and interviewed by the media both here and in India during the Chandrayaan mission. Indian officials in contact with US scientists in relation to the country's maiden unmanned lunar mission insisted that there was no compromise with Indian Space Research Organisation's security since Nozette was not given access to any sensitive information during his visit to India as part of his collaboration with ISRO on Chandrayaan.

The Post also reported that some time before taking an overseas trip in January, Nozette told a colleague he would flee the United States if it attempted to put him in jail for an unrelated offense. He told the colleague that he would then tell "everything" to the governments of an unidentified country or Israel, according to court records. Court records show that the NASA inspector general was also looking into allegations that Nozette and his non-profit consulting firm, Alliance for Competitive Technology, submitted false expense claims to the space agency in 2006.

In February 2007, federal authorities searched his house and seized computer gear and a bong, records show. A federal law enforcement official said that Nozette pleaded guilty to charges arising from the NASA inspector general's investigation. The official, who requested anonymity, declined to elaborate because the case is under seal in the district's federal court, the report said.

Spokesmen for the Israeli embassy have declined to comment. The Justice Department stressed that the Israeli government has not been accused of wrongdoing, it said. Nozette faces a court appearance on October 29 before a federal magistrate. He is jailed without bond.