'NASA scientist threatened to pass secrets to Israel, India'

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Oct 27 (PTI) A NASA scientist who played a
key role in Chandrayaan Moon mission and arrested on espionage
charges, had threatened to share secret information with
Israel and India if the US government tried to put him behind
bars on charges of committing fraud, a media report said.

Stewart David Nozette, 52, a leader in recent lunar
exploration work of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
and NASA, was arrested by FBI on October 19 and charged in a
criminal complaint with attempting to communicate, deliver and
transmit classified information, the Justice Department
recently said.
"Last year or early this year, Nozette told a
colleague that he would flee to India or Israel if the
government tried to put him in jail in the fraud case,
according to law enforcement officials," The Washington Post
reported.
A grand jury indictment last week found that Nozette
tried to pass on the highly sensitive information on satellite
and early warning system to Israel.
The Washington Post in its news report, according to
authorities said: "He (Nozett) told the colleague that he
would share "everything" he knew with Israeli and Indian
officials."
Such a threat was given by him in order to escape
imprisonment in another case against him in which he was
charged of over billing NASA and the Defence Department more
than USD 265,000 for contracting work. (MORE) PTI LKJ
SDE


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