Stewart Nozette, ex-NASA Scientist, Sentenced to 13 Years for Spying
Stewart Nozette, an ex-NASA scientist, was sentenced to 13 years behind bars for trying to sell top secret information on U.S. military satellites to FBI agents posing as Israeli Mossad security.
Stewart David Nozette, 54, had unique access to knowledge of U.S. defense systems; the Maryland scientist worked at a variety of highly-classified projects, and told the fake Mossad agent that anything "the U.S. has done in space I've seen," according to CNN. Nozette took over $20,000 from the FBI agent in exchange for information.
After pleading guilty to espionage in 2011, Nozette was sentenced to 13 years for his crime, and an additional three years for a previous tax evasion case by U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman in a Washington court.
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"I accept full responsibility for this error," Nozette told the court, according to reports.
The events leading up to Nozette's arrest were partially happenstance. FBI was already investigating the scientist for fraud involving false invoices for work totaling $265,000, with over $200,000 in tax evasion. FBI checked Nozette's computer in 2007, and found a 2002 email threatening to sell information to another country.
From there, FBI largely orchestrated a trap for Nozette.
An FBI agent called Nozette in 2009, claiming to be Israeli Mossad in search of classified defense information. The call eventually led to an FBI sting operation, where agents dropped off $10,000 in cash for secrets.
Nozette, in return, was ready to provide information "directly [concerning] satellites, early warning systems, means of defense or retaliation against large-scale attack, communications intelligence information, and major elements of defense strategy," according to government reports.
October 19, 2009, the scientist met the undercover FBI operative at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, asking for more money. That day, he was arrested, and has been in custody up until the sentencing.
At the sentencing, the disgraced ex-NASA scientist told Friedman that he "[regrets] failing to report" the supposed Israeli Mossad agent's offer. As a former informant, he knew the procedure all too well.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Asuncion demonized Nozette at the sentencing, saying the ex-scientist "agreed to be a traitor against the United States with a smile on his face," referring to video evidence he played of the fateful 2009 meeting.
One of Nozette's attorneys, Robert Tucker, told the court that the FBI "destroyed this man when they didn't have to."
When the expected 13-year sentence was originally suggested in 2011, Nozette's other lawyer, John Kiyonaga, called it "a fair sentence"- Nozette was facing 30 years to life.
