[ISN] Top US scientist accused of trying to spy for Israel (fwd)

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6380288/Top-US-scientist-accused-of-trying-to-spy-for-Israel.html

By Toby Harnden in Washington
Telegraph
19 Oct 2009

Stewart Nozette, 52, developed an experiment that fuelled the discovery 
of water on the south pole of the moon, and held a special security 
clearance at the United States Department of Energy on atomic materials.

He has been charged with .attempted espionage for knowingly and wilfully 
attempting to communicate, deliver and transmit classified information 
relating to the national defence of the US to an individual that Nozette 
believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer,. the US Department of 
Justice said.

But the person Mr Nozette believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer 
was in fact an undercover FBI agent in a sting operation, the department 
said. The US government said there had been no breach of protocol by 
Israel, which has agreed not to spy on its ally.

The 1985 arrest of Jonathan Pollard, a US civilian intelligence analyst 
at the Pentagon, and his subsequent conviction for spying for Israel, 
seriously strained US-Israeli relations. After his conviction, he was 
granted Israeli citizenship and his release is a perennial Israeli 
demand.

The Justice Department said: "From 1989 to 2006, Nozette held security 
clearances as high as top secret and had regular, frequent access to 
classified information and documents related to the US national 
defence."

[...]


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