Thaindian News

Washington, Oct 21 (IANS) An American scientist credited with helping find water on the Moon on India’s Chandrayaan mission has been ordered to remain in jail on a charge of spying for the Israeli government for a payment of $11,000.
US Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson Tuesday ordered Stewart D. Nozette, 52, arrested Monday afternoon after a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sting operation, detained until a preliminary hearing Oct 29.

Nozette, who was picked up on a charge of attempted espionage after authorities accused him of passing classified information to an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence operative, has held multiple government research jobs.

Nozette also conducted research in recent years for the US Naval Research Laboratory and the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency.

In early September, an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer called Nozette, and the scientist said he would be willing to work as a spy, FBI said.

Over the next few weeks, the agent paid $11,000 in cash, left in two instalments in a post office box in Washington. Nozette took the cash and questions left by the FBI agent.

He returned, the FBI said, with envelopes containing classified information which he recalled handling. That included details about US satellites, early warning systems and defence strategy, the FBI said in court papers.

The meetings with the FBI agent were taped. At one point, Nozette said he knew how to handle the Israeli’s cash.

“You buy consumables,” he told the agent, according to a partial transcript of the conversation in a Washington hotel suite Sep 4. “Cash is good for anything.”