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Jailed US scientist actually gave secret information to Israel

November 2, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

S.D. Nozette

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
On October 22, shortly after the arrest of US nuclear scientist Stuart David Nozette by an FBI counterintelligence agent, I speculated that Nozette “was already working for Israeli intelligence” when he was arrested by the FBI. My assumption appears to have been correct. On Thursday, the case prosecutor informed a US district court that Nozette told the undercover FBI agent, who was posing as an Israeli spy, that “he had passed information to Israel in the past”. As I have explained elsewhere, Nozette was employed for ten years as a technical consultant by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), an Israeli government-owned company that some believe is routinely involved in espionage operations on behalf of Israel. Read more of this post

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FBI targets US nuclear scientist who contacted Venezuelan official

October 25, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

P.L. Mascheroni

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
A team of FBI agents has raided the house of a former Los Alamos nuclear scientist who has spent two decades criticizing Washington’s nuclear weapons and energy agenda. The agents seized several computers, cameras, cell phones and paper files from the home of Dr. P. Leonardo Mascheroni, a 74-year-old Argentinean-born nuclear scientist who became a US citizen while working at the US Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. After leaving Los Alamos, in 1988, Dr. Mascheroni has campaigned in favor of inertial confinement fusion (commonly known as laser fusion) as a means of producing low-cost energy and of testing nuclear weapons without resorting to underground explosions. Following the FBI raid at his house, Dr. Mascheroni held a press conference where he claimed he was told by the FBI that he was suspected of possible involvement in “nuclear espionage”. Read more of this post

Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with Argentina, espionage, FBI, Hugo Chávez, inertial confinement fusion, laser fusion, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, News, nuclear espionage, P. Leonardo Mascheroni, scientific intelligence, United States, US Department of Energy, Venezuela

Analysis: US Scientist’s Espionage Arrest Raises Questions

October 22, 2009 by intelNews Leave a comment

Nozette

By IAN ALLEN | intelNews.org |
Stewart David Nozette, who was arrested by the FBI on October 19, on charges of sharing classified US government data with a man he believed was an Israeli government officer, is to remain in jail. The reason given by the US federal judge in charge of the case is that Nozette might flee to Israel if not confined. However, unlike the case of former US Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard, who was jailed in 1987 for spying on the US for Israel, the government of Israel is said to have had no role in Nozette’s attempted espionage. The FBI itself admits that it “does not allege that the government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf committed any offense under US laws in this case”. This is because Nozette shared classified US government data with an undercover FBI officer posing as a handler of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. But if this is so, then two important counterintelligence questions are raised: first, how did the FBI know to lure Nozette with an agent posing as an Israeli –as opposed to a Russian or Chinese– handler? Second, why would Nozette flee to –and presumably be protected by– Israel, even though the government of Israel was not involved in this case, according to the FBI? Keep reading →

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Oak Ridge employee admits espionage charges

February 9, 2009 by intelNews 2 Comments

Roy Oakley (court illustration)

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
On February 6, Roy Lynn Oakley, of Harriman, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to espionage charges under the US Atomic Energy Act. From 2006 to 2007, Oakley worked for Bechtel Jacobs, a contractor at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) in Oak Ridge. He had apparently been granted a security clearance and thus had access to a host of classified materials and data relating to uranium enrichment. In 2006, US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence (OIC) officers in Oak Ridge were tipped that “Oakley may have been in possession of protected materials that belonged to the DOE and was offering to sell the materials to a foreign government”. Along with FBI agents, they initiated a counterintelligence sting operation. Read more of this post