A spy unearthed

"Prosecutors said he was contacted Sept. 3 by an undercover FBI agent pretending to be an Israeli intelligence officer. That day, Nozette met the agent and discussed his willingness to give Israel classified material. He said he would turn over such information in exchange for money, prosecutors said.

At another meeting, Nozette told the agent he no longer had legal access to classified material but could recall such information. They agreed to communicate through a drop site -- a post office box in the District, prosecutors said.

The FBI twice left envelopes in the post office box filled with a total of $11,000 in cash and a list of questions for Nozette to answer. He picked up the envelopes and returned with other envelopes that contained classified information about the country's satellites, early warning systems and its ability to retaliate against a large-scale attack, prosecutors said. "  Washpost

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He should be hanged for espionage.  "pendu dans ses propres tripes"  "pour encourager les autres" pl

Comments

[Jackie]

I support your stated solution, even though I don't care for capital punishment in most cases. I can get over my squeamishness when it involves spies for that country.

[PirateLaddie]

Oh, come now, Colonel. After all, we didn't hang ol' Jon Pollard did we? Wonder if any in the command chain that opted to attack the USS Liberty were ever denied visas to the US? Of course, I'd issue to them all & then see what happened when they were Dakared while over here.

[Turcopolier]

PL

Pollard should have been hanged. I was on the DoD damage assesment committee for the case. He and his traitor colleagues in the US Government badly damaged us by stealing documents that were then traded to the USSR for the release of Jews from that country.

In re the Dakar, I have checked on that. We did not sink the Dakar. we had sunk other vessels belonging to other countries in retaliation for various things, but not the Dakar. Lyndon Johnson's peculiar affinity for Israel prevented that.

pl

[C. Kause]

Hang him and send his entrails to Jerusalem. At least our politicians and intelligence bureaucrats will be spared the incessant nagging from AIPAC and and various Israeli governments to free him.

[J]

Colonel,

One more example of Israeli 'friendship' at work. With 'friends' like Israel, who needs enemies?

Our public needs to wake to the very 'hostile' ongoing espionage against our U.S. by Israel that is taking place.

I personally prefer using a bullet as it is cheaper than a rope. It costs to make a gallows, and a single shot to the back of the head and business is concluded in quick fashion.

[Bill Wade, NH]

Wow, hang him already? What's really going on? From the above story, we have one perp and one FBI Agent. Was the FBI Agent walking around DC till he found some fool willing to sell something "valuable" for some certain amount of money? The perp admits he has (no longer?) no sort of security clearance, what on earth could he be selling? It might be good that this guy was caught but is our national security the better for it? AYE CARAMBA

[Cieran]

The Washington Times is reporting the following:

Mr. Nozette was so proud of his access to state secrets that he recited from memory information that the complaint said was highly classified. Indeed, Mr. Nozette bragged he had a "Q clearance" between 1990 and 2000, "which involved all aspects of nuclear weapons programs," court papers said.

If he indeed informed others (even FBI agents) of SRD or TSRD information (i.e., secret or top secret restricted data), then he has committed a serious violation of the Atomic Energy Act, and he can be punished accordingly, up to and including the death penalty.

The Israeli-firsters will likely try to cast this as some frame-up, but that's not the point: the issue is whether he knowingly disclosed such information with intent to secure an advantage for a foreign nation. Everyone who is ever awarded a Q clearance is responsible for knowing this fact, and the non-disclosure aspects of this clearance extend for the rest of one's life.

In fact, if he served at LLNL for a decade, then it's virtually certain that he took and passed periodic security refresher tests that could provide a clear evidence trail to demonstrate that he knew what he was doing was illegal. There's really no place for him to hide on this front.

From the early news reports, the passing of SRD/TSRD data is exactly what he did. If this goes to trial, it appears that the jury can award the death penalty if they believe that the evidence supports that outcome. That may make some folks think a bit more clearly about where their national affiliations lie.

As to Bill Wade's point, all that is material is whether (a) he communicated such information to someone not possessing the appropriate clearances and due "need to know", and (b) intended that this information be provided to a foreign nation. Point (a) is trivially satisfied, and from what we've learned so far, (b) is as well. The fact that someone no longer possesses the appropriate clearances is absolutely not a mitigating circumstance in this case.

The early reporting on this emerging story is proving to be quite interesting. I believe that this case will be a much more difficult one to hide under the rug than some of the others we've seen disappear of late.

The Atomic Energy Act is not a piece of legislation to be trifled with...

[CCG]

Agreed.

The Punishment should be severe for betrayal of Country.

[The beaver]

Man, he is cheap - only $11K changed hands. So he must be a real "nationalist" :(

And the four GOP lawmakers going after Muslim Intern spies in the House of Representatives - he he he - wonder if any of them got a free trip to TLV this summer.

[EL]

Colonel,
He'll probably become a lobbyist for AIPAC.

[Charles I]

You know I'm agin the death penalty. A suitably powerful example might serve but even the death penalty has remarkably little deterrent effect.

But if I was you, well yeah, shoot him if his action put his peers or country in peril. I mean he's one of yours, its treason. After due process, please. Which might preclude the dp depending on the magnitude of his crimes.

BIll Wade, your national security would be improved by radically changing your relationship with Israel. A spy scandal's a good start.

But never mind. The Dakar?! Just the bit of arcana for the perfect plot twist in my Armageddon thriller.

Here's a story about the "discovery" of the sub and the spin o' the day. Malfunction.

"The Lost Sub Is Found, and Israelis Can Grieve"

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/3132/features/f62Lost_Sub_Dakar_Found.htm

But here's an Egyptian Admiral says he saw the sub sink after a chase:

"Admiral says he saw Dakar sink

"Egyptian sources tell 'Al-Sharq al-Awsat' that naval school cadets on exercise spotted Israeli submarine; Egyptian vessel gave chase but 'Dakar' submerged and disappeared"

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3107066,00.html

yet this article too concludes

"An investigation of the wreckage by the Nauticus company and by naval experts determined that the ship sank due to technical problems and not because of a crash or an attack."

I do love this site.

[china_hand]

Hell yeah: Hang him.

In Chinese, it's called "Killing a chicken to scare the monkey."

[William R. Cumming]

INTEL seems to me to be about capabilities not motivations or intentions. What I worry most about is those "imbedded' indivduals at high levels with dual loyalties and reveal not just capabilities but motives and intentions. The US is deeply penetrated in both the Executive Branch, and the Congress and believe now that seeds of US decline are in the growth of that industry by various other nation-states and individuals. Who actually is the Counter-espionage CZAR now and does he/she understand the danger and have power to do anything about it, even disclose the problem?

[greg0]

From what I've read, it sounds like a good sting operation. Which leads me to ask, what relationship does Nozette have to Israel? Was it simply the money?

[Hannah K. O'Luthon]

Thanks to Col. Lang for the information on the Dakar. Apparently the story was another bit of dis-information, and it's not difficult to guess who would have found such confusion useful. Thanks also for
your discretion regarding the Guantanamo torture cases: it's
clearly better that you act concretely rather than merely titilate your readers. (By the way, site from which this is sent differs from my usual location, for work-related reasons.)

[otiwa ogede]

capital punishment is never justified....and what about the various US "politicians" that do far more damage in the service of foreign interests?

[Sidney O. Smith III]

Here’s hoping the DOJ does not let down the FBI yet again in the prosecution of an espionage case. And here’s hoping the case is not assigned to Judge Ellis III. Just check out his evidentiary rulings in the Rosen-Weismann case-- rulings that the circuit court most certainly questioned but did not have the jurisdiction to overrule.

And if anyone reads the transcript of the sentencing hearing of Larry Franklin, you will see that Judge Ellis III all but carved out an exception, giving those who spy for Israel special treatment. Any prosecutor should have recognized the implications of Ellis’ statement during the sentencing hearing and, imo, the DOJ was obligated to seek a clarification, considering no legal basis existed for the judge's point of view. But, alas, nada.

If nada else, Judge Ellis III, by his actions, confirmed something I have long felt. I just have a difficult time trusting anyone whose name ends with the suffix III.

Sidney O. Smith III

[Clifford Kiracofe]

Per Pollard case:

"Pollard case shows insider betrayal is biggest spy threat

Jonathan Pollard
“Nobody is going to believe this story. It’s too crazy.”

That’s what Ron Olive told audiences at Sandia, earlier this month about his experience investigating an espionage case in which a U.S. Navy intelligence analyst literally walked out the door with more than a million classified documents.

Olive said the volume of sensitive, classified information Jonathan Pollard walked away with, literally under the noses of superiors, coworkers and security personnel, would fill a six-foot square room 10 feet high.

Security personnel even wedged open the door of the highly classified facility at the Naval Intelligence Support Center (NISC) in Suitland, Md., where Pollard worked, while he removed boxes upon boxes of documents. Pollard went unchallenged as he had been granted authorization to remove such documents, presumably to move them to other locations within the center.

Olive, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) agent (retired) who investigated the case, got to know Pollard extremely well.

He said that despite psychological evaluations that indicated Pollard was an untrustworthy “kook” who had professed a strong interest in being a spy, lied to his supervisors, and failed polygraph tests, Pollard was granted a security clearance and access to sensitive information.

When he was denied a top-level security clearance, Pollard threatened to sue his superiors. The result was that he was granted the clearance, promoted and given access to more highly sensitive information.

Olive said that Pollard provided the information he stole to Israel, although some of the information went to a list of other nations as well.

“This was the most devastating breakdown of national security in my 22 years with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service,” Olive said.

The Pollard case is a prime example of insider betrayal which, Olive said, is “the most dangerous threat to our national security and national economy.”

Pollard’s superiors and coworkers seemed oblivious to his espionage activities, even though many of the classic indicators of espionage were present.

Olive showed portions of an investigative videotape recording in which a coworker repeatedly walks past Pollard’s office, unaware, as Pollard transfers files from a file drawer into a briefcase provided by his handler.

Other indicators were: working late at night and on weekends; working alone in a highly classified area despite the facility’s two-man rule; financial problems, followed by unexplained affluence.

Pollard was caught when a coworker observed him as he carried clearly marked classified documents from the Anti Terrorist Alert Center, stepped into a waiting car driven by his wife, and the two drove away from the facility.

The coworker’s tip prompted the NCIS to begin an investigation. That role was assigned to Olive. The FBI arrested Pollard in November 1985.

On June 4, 1986, Pollard pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to deliver national defense information to a foreign government. He was sentenced to life in prison.

The presentation was hosted by Sandia’s Counterintelligence"

https://newsline.llnl.gov/
articles/2008/jun/06.13.08_pollard.php

[rjj]

AYE CARAMBA, indeed.

Thank you, Wade of NH.

[Nightsticker]

Colonel Lang,

It will be interesting to see if there are a few more publicized incidents of this type in the near future. One of the traditional services a CI organization performs for the national leadership is to have under observation a few situations that when convenient can be neutralized with much [operationally unnecessary] hoopla. This is frequently in connection with adding emphasis to some message that the intended recipient is having trouble understanding.

Nightsticker
USMC 1965-1972
FBI 1972-1996

[Andy]

I'm personally opposed to the death penalty and this case is no different. He should, of course, be jailed for life, assuming, as seems likely, what we know so far is true.

[Bill Wade, NH]

Well, I know more now. Hang him. But, since the media is saying Israel was not involved, why did the FBI agent pretend to be Mossad?

[PirateLaddie]

OK, OK, we probably didn't have a hand in bringing down the INS Dakar. Still, we can dream, can't we -- and how often do servants actually spit in the soup of their masters, anyway?

[Turcopolier]

BW

Because they believed he would respond to that clarion call. This man had collected 225 k from an Israeli aerospace company while being employed at Livermore. I think you can connect the dots. pl

[Turcopolier]

Nightsticker

As you suggest, this is carefully put together as a warning to the many other assets possessed by the Mossad.

The beauty of it is that it is not necessary to accuse AIPAC or the embassy of anything. It would be perfect if this shmuck is not Jewish.

The outcry will begin today or tomorrow on the theme that this is entrapment, anti-semitic, etc. pl