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23 October 2009

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Dick Durata

"It looks as if Reggie Walton, who presided over the Irving Lewis "Scooter" Libby trial is going to be handling this one."

It's a small world, after all.

Sidney O. Smith III

Case was assigned to Judge Walton? Beautiful.

Clifford Kiracofe

Nozette is reported to have worked in the GW Bush White House in the "National Space Council" 1989-1990.

1. this Council was headed by Vice President Quayle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Space_Council

2. Vice President's Quayle's Chief of Staff was neocon William Kristol, son of neocon Irving Kristol.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Kristol

Brien J Miller

My sense of this is from the nominal “modus operandi” of federal prosecutors is that there may be significantly more hidden below the surface in this case and that this may be the first lynch pin in unraveling as much of it as can be against a moving time-frame. U.S. Federal Prosecutors excel at this approach.

Clifford Kiracofe

Some more data:

"A former colleague of Nozette says the scientist worked on the Reagan administration's Star Wars missile shield program.

In an interview, Scott Hubbard said that a scientist arrested in an FBI sting, Stewart David Nozette, was primarily a technical defense expert working on the Reagan-era effort formally named the Strategic Defense Initiative.

"This was leading edge, Department of Defense national security work," said Hubbard, a professor of aerospace at Stanford University who worked for 20 years at NASA. Hubbard said Nozette worked on the Star Wars project at the Energy Department's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

At Energy, Nozette held a special security clearance equivalent to the Defense Department's top secret and "critical nuclear weapon design information" clearances. DOE clearances apply to access to information specifically relating to atomic or nuclear-related materials."
http://www.wavy.com/dpp/military/
ex_colleague_scientest_
stewart_david_nozette_worked_on_star_wars_1256060130430

Cold War Zoomie

He's toast.

Nightsticker

Colonel Lang,

The results of show trials are criticised because people outside the courtroom know that neither the prosecutors nor the defendants told the truth. This could turn out to be an interesting variation on the concept. This could be a show trial where the results are criticized because people outside the courtroom know that the prosecutors and the defendant did tell the truth. Imagine this defendant making a deal wherein he provides sworn testimony in open court that opens up to the general public a view of things usually known to the CI community but denied or downplayed by many other powerful interests. In return prosecutorial discretion is used to reduce charges brought and he gets sympathetic consideration of his cooperation at sentencing. Based only on what I read in the newspapers, he is otherwise so going to do 10-15 years in a very nast place.

Nightsticker
USMC 1965-1972
FBI 1972-1996

Fred

What is the Isreali government doing, developing their own space based weapons based off technical secrets stolen from the US? Is this to attack other satelites or ground targets? Very bad for the U.S. and many other countries either way.

Turcopolier

Fred

What's next? How about nuclear orbital pumped lasers? pl

Clifford Kiracofe

The "Arrow" project has both the US and Israel working together on BMD (ballistic missile defense) tech. The Israeli company for whom Nozette "consulted" is called Israel Aerospace Industries and is a key participant in the JOINT (repeat JOINT) US-Israeli "Arrow" defense tech program.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/
n.php?n=israeli-missile-defense-test-aborted-2009-07-23

So how did this Arrow project between the US and Israel develop?

The inside story includes the fact that back in the 1980s the late Senator John Tower desired to make sure the Reagan Star Wars programs went ahead in the face of some strong Congressional opposition by Dems and etc.

So what Tower did, I suppose thinking he was being clever, was to draw in Israel into the Star Wars programs via "Arrow" as one joint project. Tower made the political calculation that the Dems and liberals opposed to Star Wars would not dare vote against a project which included Israel. Neocons and "pro-Israel" types were ecstatic.
For some background see: http://www.wrmea.com/backissues/1095/9510012.htm

You will notice the chronology -- 1988 Arrow project, 1989 Nozette goes into the White House under Vice President Quayle's chairing the Space Policy stuff...uberNeocon William Kristol was Quayle's key guy and ... two plus two equals four. (usually)

Clifford Kiracofe

And to broaden the picture out a little again noting the 1988 period etc.:

"Neocon Espionage for Israel Starting in 1979
Stephen Bryen (synopsis of full story) was seen in his Senate office with Rafiah, the Mossad (Israeli CIA) station chief in Washington, discussing classified documents spread out on a table in front of an open safe. At another time he was overheard offering these documents to Rafiah. Later, Bryen's finger prints were found on these same documents although he had stated in writing to the FBI he’d never had them in his possession.

In 1979, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Robert Keuch recommended a grand jury hearing to prepare for prosecution for espionage. After the Senate Foreign Relations Committee refused to grant the Justice Department access to key files in the investigation, the investigation was shut down.

In April 1981, Richard Perle, just nominated as assistant secretary of defense for international security, proposed Bryen as his deputy assistant secretary. Bryen received Top Secret ("NATO/COSMIC”) clearance.

In May of 1988, Bryen attempted to approve a license for Varian Associates to export four klystrons (advanced radar technology) to Israel. A meeting was called at which all but Bryen opposed the license. Bryen suggested he ask the Israelis why they needed the klystrons. The Israeli government gave a perfunctory answer, Bryen approved the license, and the klystrons were released.

When Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Armitage found out, he informed the State Department of DOD's “uniformly negative” reaction to the export of klystrons to Israel. The license was withdrawn, and in July, Varian Associates became the first U.S. corporation formally precluded from contracting with the Defense Department.

In April 2001, with the support of Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Bryen was appointed a member of the China Commission (in part concerned with Israel's transfer of advanced technology to China) and his appointment has been extended through December of 2005.

The Pentagon naturally opposes the transfer or retransfer of advanced American technology to countries that violate U.S. laws. Unlike many Pentagon units, however, DTSA has been routinely supportive of exports to "nonsuspect" companies in friendly countries. During the Reagan administration, the first head of DTSA was Stephen Bryen, who before moving to the Pentagon, was the executive director of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), an organization committed to strong security ties between the United States and Israel. Bryen's superior at Defense was Richard Perle, who now serves with Bryen on JINSA's advisory board. In the mid-1980s, Bryen allegedly called Customs Service commissioner William von Raab to complain about an investigation of alleged re-export violations by Israel. In 1988, Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Armitage admonished Bryen for trying to force through an export license for Israel over the strong objections of senior military officers. After leaving government and returning to JINSA, Bryen, who denies the von Raab incident, was a paid Pentagon consultant (with security clearance) on sensitive technology exports.

A majority (880 of 1508) of the export licenses issued by Commerce from 1988-92 for sensitive, nuclear-related, dual-use equipment were for Israel. Most licenses were to IDF end-users. Although the exports were usually conditional on Israeli pledges not to use the items for weapons purposes or to re-export them without prior U.S. government authorization, there was virtually no effort to monitor compliance. U.S. embassy officials and the GAO, therefore, questioned the value of the Israeli pledges. That the Commerce Department's review of license applications for dual-use exports is relaxed is well documented by the GAO."
http://zfacts.com/p/764.html

And one would reasonably assume that Senator Tower was "advised" some by Perle etal. per Arrow...

And Nozette just happened to set him self up as a consultant to Israel Aerospace Industries and who knows what else?

To really appreciate the historical context here, the interested citizen should be aware that during the Bush43 Administration the integration of the Israeli defense industry into the US military industrial complex sped ahead. Thus the Israeli defense industry is interlinked and embedded into our own defense industrial base. Naturally this poses some problems one might posit...


Jackie

Mr. Kiracofe,
That last paragraph above, about Bush 43's integration of the Israeli defense industry into the US military, dumbfounds me more than the stupid wars he started. I don't want the Israelis in our M.I.C. Heck, I don't even want our own Military Industrial Complex.

Fred

Col, no, thought that idea died out in the late '80s; but is there a technical way to jam a satellite from orbit or is this spy just stealing our satellite technology to build there own and perhaps sell it off?

Turcopolier

Fred

Are you sure? pl

peg

nothing to see here -- move along....

Clifford Kiracofe

Jackie

Ike was right. I can still see him now coming across my parents black and white Magnavox in the 50s... ah the 50s....

For those interested in tracking the integration of the US and Israeli defense industrial sectors one useful open source is "Defense News" which is a weekly. There are numerous trade pubs as well. This is where I noted the phenomenon.
http://www.defensenews.com/


For example from this week in Defense News(note mention of ARROW system):

"JERUSALEM - Israel and the United States started on Wednesday their largest-ever air defense drill simulating missile attacks on the Jewish state, officials said.

Israeli public radio quoted an unnamed senior military official saying that the two-week drill is aimed as preparation for any confrontation with arch-foe Iran, which Israel accuses of trying to obtain nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

About 1,000 troops from the U.S. European Command and an equal number of Israeli soldiers are taking part in the Juniper Cobra exercise running through November 5, the Israeli army said in a statement.

The exercise will test the Arrow (Hetz) system, the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense), the ship-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, as well as Patriot and Hawk anti-aircraft systems, media said.

It will simulate the firing of long-range missiles from Israel's foes Iran, Syria and Lebanon, and towards the end it will include a "live" missile interception, reports said.

The army statement said "the exercise is not in response to any world events" and that planning for the fifth Juniper Cobra drill "started over a year and a half ago."


Cold War Zoomie

(OT to respond to question on another thread)The Ducati 900SS is my main ride but I also have an old BMW touring bike. I recommend from DC take 66 out to Skyline Drive then you can go all the way to Asheville, NC and beyond on it and then Blue Ridge Parkway. Also, Marlinton, West VA is excellent base for that area and the Old Clark Inn there is set up for bikes and is great.

Turcopolier

peg

Aint that the truth? It will be interesting to see how long the MSM can keep the lid on. pl

confusedponderer

A nuclear bomb-pumped X-ray laser, Sir? SDI? As sold, such a weapon would allow boost phase intercept of enemy missiles. Israel is in range of enemy missiles and have, to counter that threat, fielded the Arrow II missile systems.

As for Israel and space weapons in general, IMO it would be a little marvel if their strategy of all out supremacy in their neighbourhood would not drive them to build space based or space superiority weapons, if or when their neighbours start to develop real or imaginary space based sensors of their own. Israel's enemies are already possessing or developing ballistic missiles.

That is, SDI and its concepts are very much alive in Israel.

Once strategy is aimed on achieving supremacy, the perpetuation of supremacy becomes a strategic goal in itself.

That's just what the neo-cons meant when they babbled about the prevention of the rise of a competitor. Just look at 'full spectrum dominance'. I see Israel's (over)reliance of superior military force following a similar inner logic.

Turcopolier

CP

That was my point. I don't know if Excalibur was really abandoned. Such a weapon could of course be pointed at the planet as well. pl

Andy

The reason Israel is interested in all this technology is because most of it has application beyond the scope of whatever project it was developed for. I don't think Israel intends to copy verbatim whatever projects this guy was working on, but the technology used and developed in those projects would be of immense interest to Israel, or any country for that matter. This is usually how proliferators operate. Iran and Iraq, for example, obtained technology from unrelated industries and projects in Europe and the USA (and from academia) for use in various missile and weapons programs.

William R. Cumming

Is my understanding correct that "ARROW" has been sold by Isral to other countries and is better than most equivalent systems?

Sidney O. Smith III

At least in this one instance, it looks like the DOJ is going to support the work of the FBI in an espionage case where the intended recipient of classified info is Israel -- a welcomed shift from the recent Nol. Pros. in the AIPAC case.

Contrary to Glenn Greenwald’s analysis (who, imo, is one of the best constitution law bloggers), the AIPAC case was legitimate and, although not a slam dunk, was triable.

Even if the jury returned a “not guilty” as to the two defendants, the presentation of evidence, in large part b/c of the judge’s evidentiary rulings, would have allowed the USG, primarily during rebutall, to establish prima facie evidence that AIPAC falls under FARA. That of course, is assuming that the DOJ and USG wanted to establish such.

When seen in that light, trying the case was a win-win. It would have flipped the judge’s evidentiary rulings in such as way that it would have benefited the USG, although the judge’s intent was otherwise. The judge’s ruling would have put the defense in a corner, because to protect their clients, it would have had to open the door to evidence that incriminated AIPAC.

The circuit court made in plain in their opinion that they questioned the judge's evidentiary ruling. The trial judge knew he was on thin ice and the DOJ knew or “should have known” the same. “Should have known” of course is language used to establish negligent behavior or, arguably, a breach of duty.

As for the reluctance of the USG to act on pending espionage cases in which probable cause is clearly established, one day someone is going to discover the value of a writ of mandamus. But to succeed in these times, ultimately it will require people within the USG to be willing to sacrifice the security of government pension to act on behalf of the people of the US.

Turcopolier

All

Earlier, someone calling itself "I" wrote to say that he/she/it felt that it was difficult to believe the amount of hatred there is "here."

I foolishly deleted that comment.

Question -

Hatred of what?

- Spies

- Jews

- Neocons

- People from New Jersey

- Hasbara

- Republicans

What? pl

Jackie

Col.,
I guess love of the good old U.S.A., translates into 'hatred' of spies, neocons and hasbara. I just think we don't want anyone to spy on us. If that translates into "hatred", well, tough luck to whoever is saying that.

Mr. Kiracofe,
Didn't Eisenhower run as the peace candidate? My dad has told me about speeches he made talking about each bomb takes money away from food for people. Too bad the G.O.P. don't look to him as a role model. They never mention Eisenhower.

Clifford Kiracofe

Jackie,

Yes, Ike assured the public he would wind down the Korean War which was extremely unpopular and so on. Truman's numbers tanked into the 20s somewhere and the public wanted a "change." Ike won. Ike later wrote "Mandate for Change: 1953-1956" and I have my dad's copy of it on the shelf. Worth a reread every few years.

It seems to me Ike's view of the economy was strategic in the sense that he understood the national economy to be the foundation of our power (and our future) as a nation. He actually cut the defense budget so as to reduce government spending, balance the budget, and help the economy grow in the civilian sector. He also launched huge infrastructure projects such as our national interstate system and the St. Lawrence Seaway. Such projects remind one of the policy of the old Whig Party of the 19th century which also focused on national economic development under the "American System" concept of Henry Clay etal.

Ike's strategic view of the economy no doubt came from his formation in the military and his experience particularly as SACEUR. In his duties in the 1930s, he worked under MacArthur for several years on projects relating to the Industrial War College in the area of economic mobilization, for example.

The strategic view of the economy has been lost in recent decades owing to the influence of Wall Street and its cosmopolitan friends in other financial capitals. We can see the results...

As to military-industrial complexes, Ike fought one in Europe.

[Ike's mother's family was from Virginia not far up Rte 11 from where I live.]

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