Judge Deborah Robinson rejected a bail request from Stewart David Nozette, who was arrested in an October 18 sting operation, saying he was considered a flight risk and should remain in jail pending trial.

Nozette, 52, is charged with two counts of attempted espionage for allegedly trying to sell secrets to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence officer.

Court documents from the prosecution accused Nozette, who for years had a high-level US government security clearance, of seeking "roughly two million dollars as compensation for his espionage."

He "delivered and communicated this classified information to an individual he believed was an Israeli intelligence officer in exchange for an alias, a foreign passport, and cash payments," they said.

In their final discussion, the undercover FBI agent allegedly handed Nozette 10,000 dollars in 100 dollar bills, which he tried to hide inside a hotel bathroom toilet tank when federal agents arrested him.

The FBI also searched Nozette's safe deposit box at a bank in San Diego, California where they discovered 55 gold 'Krugerrand' coins worth a total of 50,000 dollars and 30,000 dollars in savings bonds, the court documents said.

The prosecution argued that this meant Nozette would flee if given the chance, and should therefore be refused bail.

Nozette worked at the US space agency NASA, the Energy Department, and even served on the White House's National Space Council in 1989 and 1990, under then-president George H.W. Bush.

Between November 1998 and January 2008 Nozette was paid a total of 225,000 dollars for legally providing an Israeli government-owned aerospace company with technical data and advice, according to the indictment.

On January 30 Nozette pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion charges, and agreed to pay more than 265,000 dollars restitution to the government.

If convicted, Nozette could face the death penalty although his execution is considered unlikely, since the only US civilians ever executed for espionage were Soviet nuclear spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg back in 1953.

Robert Hanssen, the FBI agent who spied for Soviet and Russian intelligence services for more than 20 years and was arrested in 2001, pleaded guilty to avoid execution and is serving a life sentence.

CIA double agent Aldrich Ames, convicted in 1994 on similar charges, also bargained his way out of a death sentence and is spending the rest of his life behind bars.

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News