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From the Los Angeles Times

War on terrorism a priority to California voters, poll finds

Of those surveyed in a USC/Times poll, four-fifths say the need to combat terrorism remains the same or is increasing since the Sept. 11 attacks.

by John Hoeffel, Los Angeles Times

September 7, 2011

Ten years after Al Qaeda terrorists hijacked jetliners, steered them into the World Trade Center towers and plunged a stunned country into a transformative war on terrorism, California voters overwhelmingly believe the fight remains a crucial priority, according to a new poll.

Four-fifths of the voters surveyed in the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll said the need to combat terrorism remained the same or was increasing. Just 13% believed the need was decreasing.

And, as the intensely ideological conflicts over how best to keep Americans safe have cooled, many voters have come to terms with once-controversial initiatives that have helped foil plans for terrorist attacks and protect the country from another deadly cataclysm.

"People have generally accepted the new status quo and want us to continue on the current course when it comes to security measures and protecting civil liberties," said Stanley Greenberg, head of the Democratic firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, which polled 1,508 registered voters with the Republican firm American Viewpoint. "They don't want to back down on the fight against terrorism, but they are generally pleased with the way it's going."

The state's voters, who view President Obama favorably despite thinking he has mishandled the brackish economy, awarded him high marks for taking on terrorists, according to the survey conducted for The Times and the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

A majority of California voters — men and women of all ages, races and ideologies — said the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the government's response have fundamentally changed their daily lives. But many also believe that those intrusions have been correctly calibrated.

Among the state's voters, 46% said they believed the government had struck the right balance between restricting civil liberties and keeping the country safe, whereas 33% said it had gone too far and 15% said it had not gone far enough. Younger voters were more likely to say the restrictions were too severe.

California voters have become accustomed to invasive and inconvenient airport screening, with 53% saying the level is about right. A quarter complained of too much screening and 18% said there wasn't enough.

Crystal Mosteiro, a 46-year-old middle school teacher from Martinez who participated in the poll, is not troubled by the air travel measures, but doubts their effectiveness. She once made it through security with her husband's 41/2-inch folding knife forgotten in her purse.

But Mosteiro, a nonpartisan voter, does worry about a slow erosion of civil liberties. "It's a very short step from the war on terrorism to becoming the war on domestic terrorism to the war on gangs, and therefore we can start taking those civil liberties away," she said.

California voters leaned toward believing the United States was winning the war on terrorism, 46% to 39%, but 15% were unsure. Yet despite their support for the billions of dollars spent to hunt down terrorists and expand the country's spying apparatus, voters only narrowly believed the country was more secure. Whereas 47% said the country was safer than it was immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks, 40% said the danger level was about the same and 12% said the nation was less safe.

"We're probably doing good, but it's going to take a long time. It's not going to end soon. I'm afraid we might have another 9/11 somewhere in the U.S. if we're not careful," said Enrique Carranza, a 65-year-old San Diego Democrat who works as a hospital biowaste specialist.

Voters in California, far from the East Coast targets that Al Qaeda hit, were not all that worried that they or their families would become victims of a terrorist attack. Just 11% described themselves as very concerned, 56% were somewhat or a little concerned, and a third were not at all concerned.

As with many issues, men and women viewed terrorism differently. Men were more supportive of Obama's handling of the issue and much more likely to believe the United States was defeating the terrorists. But they were also more critical of the effect on civil liberties and the heightened airport security. Women generally felt the country was not more secure and were more worried about being caught in an attack.

Terrorism provided a somewhat unifying force for voters when it came to views of Obama. Almost two-thirds of voters approved of how the president was handling the issue. Support was strongest among Democrats and nonpartisan voters, but he also got significant support from Republicans, who split evenly.

Obama essentially tied with former President George W. Bush when voters were asked who did more to reduce the threat of terrorism. He won 49% support among liberal voters, but even 38% of voters who support the conservative "tea party" movement believed that Obama had done more than the president who first declared the global war on terrorism.

Andrew McDougald, a 30-year-old Republican from Simi Valley, noted that Obama had stepped up use of Predator drones and approved the assault on Osama bin Laden's hide-out. "I feel that he's actually done better than a lot of Republicans would give him credit for," said McDougald, an aria-singing waiter at an Italian restaurant.

The killing of the world's most-wanted terrorist inspired about 2 in 5 to have more confidence in Obama as commander in chief. But another two-fifths were unswayed by his role in the daringly executed raid on Bin Laden's compound.

On the most visible terrorism battleground, the 10-year-old war in Afghanistan, California voters disapproved of Obama's leadership, 52% to 41%. Just 17% of the state's voters think the United States should do whatever is necessary to stabilize that country.

In June, Obama announced in a nationally televised speech that he would order 10,000 troops withdrawn this year and 23,000 next year, leaving 68,000 on the ground, a faster timetable than military commanders wanted. More than three-quarters of California voters want U.S. troop strength reduced, with 43% saying it should be done even more quickly than planned.

The USC Dornsife/Times poll surveyed registered voters in California from Aug. 17 to 28 by telephone in English and Spanish. The overall margin of sampling error was plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-0908-poll-911-20110908,0,5467013,print.story

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Daum: Sept. 11 and the impulse to pay tribute

It's a date that will never be forgotten. Ten years out, the events remain as surreal as if they'd happened yesterday.

by Meghan Daum

September 8, 2011

Not that you needed reminding, but Sunday is the 10th anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Around the world, memorials will be held, prayers said, tears shed. President Obama has called on the nation to "reaffirm the strength of our nation with acts of service and charity." Mozart's Requiem will be performed in countless venues.

But anniversaries of historic events — particularly less-than-happy ones — can be tricky things, not least of all because dates don't often lodge themselves in the brain the way events themselves do. People of a certain age might know that Pearl Harbor Day is Dec. 7 or that President Kennedy was killed on Nov. 22, 1963. But to younger generations, it's the event that matters, not the date itself. Devoted fans of Princess Diana or Michael Jackson might have the dates of their heroes' deaths etched in their brains. But I'd hazard a guess that most of us couldn't come up with Aug. 31, 1997, or June 25, 2009, even if we remember what we were doing when we heard the news.

But 9/11, of course, is different. So comprehensive and widespread was the tragedy that it soon became clear the events of that day could only be referred to by their date. And so Sept. 11 has become something of a permanent national blackout date. Weddings, "gala" fundraisers and retirement parties are scheduled around it, and expectant parents hope their babies won't be born on it. Unlike the infamous day that kicked off America's entrance into World War II, there's no chance that, generations from now, people will need to check the Internet to get the date right. Like the Fourth of July, the "when" is part of the commemorative package.

That's especially true when it comes to multiples of 10. Occasions marked by round numbers are more worthy of attention than the less-than-milestone years in between. That's why we have 10th and 20th and 30th class reunions but not seventh or 18th or 23rd.

This being 9/11's first round-number anniversary, the imperative to pay homage is accompanied by considerably more fanfare than in years past. As has been the case every year since 2001, the names of all the victims will be read aloud at ground zero. But this time, that ceremony will christen (finally) a permanent memorial at the site, one that also captures those names in bronze.

On television, commemorative programming is already dominating the airwaves like Christmas specials in December: There's PBS' "Frontline: Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero," CNN's "Beyond 9/11: Portraits of Resilience" and Fox News' "9/11: Timeline of Terror," to name a few. Meanwhile, a Long Island winery is even (oh, dear) issuing 9/11 wines; part of the proceeds will benefit 9/11 memorial foundations. A chardonnay and a merlot are being produced.

Whatever other effects the hoopla engenders, I'd wager more than a few people feel at least a little alienated by it: Can 10 whole years really have passed since that terrible day? That's the thing about decades. They can seem at once like an eternity and like the blink of an eye. As with the 10-year class reunion — where the passage of time reveals the direction people are headed but not necessarily where they'll end up — the decade anniversary of a historic event tells only part of the story.

And because the story of 9/11 will undoubtedly be revisited for centuries to come, 10 years is a mere blip. Since 2001 we've started two wars; in trivial ways and important ones, we've traded our privacy for more security and generally recalibrated our relationship to the concept of outside threats.

But, in the grand scheme of things, the attacks of 9/11 might as well have just happened. That's because there's a difference between knowing something, or even generally understanding it, and truly fathoming it. We grasp what took place, but the whole thing remains, for most of us, largely unfathomable. Ten years out, "the events," real as we know they were, still seem surreal enough that it's hard to fully wrap our minds around them. No turbocharged decennial tribute, however well intentioned and however moving, is going to change that.

We'll see how we're doing in another 10 years. Meanwhile, acts of service, prayers and the Requiem will have to suffice. For now, that's enough.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-daum-911-20110908,0,3495180.column

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Chinese police rescue 30 disabled men in brick factory raids

Authorities say the mentally disabled men had been held as slave laborers. The raids occurred after an undercover TV reporter in Henan province who was sold to a brick factory exposed the abuse.

by Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times

September 7, 2011

Reporting from Beijing

Chinese police have raided brick factories scattered through a rural swath of Henan province and rescued 30 mentally disabled men who authorities say had been held as slave laborers.

The unusually public raids Monday were prompted by a report on Henan provincial television by a journalist who had gone undercover posing as a disabled man at a train station, where he was grabbed by a recruiter and says he was sold to a brick factory.

The case is an embarrassment for Chinese authorities, who have promised to stamp out slavery and the abuse of the disabled. In a 2007 scandal that shocked the nation, hundreds of people, including many teenagers, were rescued from brick factories and coal mines where they'd been held captive, tortured and poorly fed.

In the latest case, some of the slave laborers were reported to be blind. They had been held as long as seven years, working without pay. They had been beaten with belts on the back and the groin, according to the television report.

Eight people were arrested.

The television reporter, Cui Songwang, went undercover in mid-August. He spent three hours making bricks, during which, he said, he was beaten almost constantly. One of the people who beat him with a belt was a teenager who police later said was only 14.

Liu Yuxia, a civil affairs official in Dengfeng, one of the towns where a brick kiln was raided, said it was unclear whether the rescued workers would be able to testify against the factory owners because of their mental impairment.

"The men cannot tell their story well. They can't say how long they were working or for whom. Some of them can't even tell you where they are from," she said.

The rescues are getting considerable publicity in Chinese media, but advocates for the disabled are not optimistic about the prospects for longer-lasting reforms.

"These cases happen again and again. The police never follow up; nothing really happens," Zhang Wei, a Beijing lawyer who runs a nonprofit organization helping the disabled, said Wednesday. "My guess in this case is that these people will have to face criminal charges, but for what kind of crime? Intentional injury, involuntary confinement — or operating an illegal business, which will lead to a light sentence."

He Zhimin, a farmer from Shaanxi province, has been looking for his mentally disabled son since June of last year, when the son was offered $10 a day and a pack of cigarettes by a woman recruiting for brick factories.

"The police won't help me," He said. "They don't take these kinds of cases seriously."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china-slave-labor-20110908,0,4735916,print.story

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Man gets 25 years in plot to blow up Jewish targets in New York

The "weapons" turned out to be fakes provided by an FBI informant, whose taped conversations with the defendant, Laguerre Payen, and three other men convinced a jury last October that they were guilty. The jurors rejected defense claims that the men, from the city of Newburgh, N.Y., north of New York City, were victims of entrapment.

All were convicted of conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction in what prosecutors called a major blow to homegrown terrorism.

"Laguerre Payen was a willing participant in a plot to use bombs and missiles to target New York synagogues and U.S. military planes," U.S. Atty. Preet Bharara said in a statement after Judge Colleen McMahon handed down the sentence. "Although these weapons were fake, the defendant believed they were real, and today's sentence underscores the gravity of these crimes."

Payen, 29, was the last of the four defendants to be sentenced. Last June, James Cromitie, David Williams and Onta Williams were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

The high-profile case erupted in the spring of 2009, when law enforcement officials swooped down on the four men outside a synagogue late one night in New York City. The synagogue was allegedly on their list of targets to blow up. By then, the four had been under surveillance for several months after having been befriended by an FBI informant who had passed himself off as a member of a Pakistani-based terrorist group and then secretly recorded their conversations.

Prosecutors said the men were driven by a desire to avenge the deaths of Muslims killed in the war in Afghanistan. The defense said they would never have gone along with the plot to obtain explosives and missiles if the informant had not egged them on.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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Sacramento's inmate dodge

If prisoner realignment is to become more than the latest California exercise in passing the buck (while keeping the bucks), state officials must step up with a constitutional commitment to funding.

September 7, 2011

There are two ways to break a promise: all at once, short and to the point, perhaps with a word of regret, or over the course of months, in a silent, maybe-yes maybe-no passive-aggressive snub. Sacramento, in its cruel brilliance, managed to use both methods simultaneously as it broke, and continues to break, a promise to fund the transfer of state parolees and prisoners to county control.

Too bad it's not just some internal government versus government spat. It's a major breach of faith that could kill long-held hopes for prison reform — and in the process threaten to end the statewide decline in crime.

At issue is public safety "realignment," which is wonkese for the state government's plan to offload its prison overcrowding problem onto the 58 counties. Gov. Jerry Brown in January said the state would transfer money along with the parolees and inmates on the theory that counties could be more efficient and effective than the state prisons, perhaps by spending on rehabilitation instead of just on imprisonment.

Five years of state funding for local public safety and prisoner rehabilitation was to come from extending sales tax and vehicle license fee increases that were set to expire July 1. The increases were to go hand in hand with a constitutional amendment that obligated the state to send counties the necessary money. But Republican lawmakers blocked the package from going to the ballot. Still, beginning Oct. 1, newly arriving state parolees will be supervised by county probation officers, and new non-serious convicts will go to county jails instead of state prisons. The transfer is forever, but the budget provides funding for only nine months.

After that, who knows? Perhaps Sacramento will have pangs of conscience and allocate more money. Perhaps GOP lawmakers will change their minds on the tax measures, or perhaps they will send voters a constitutional amendment that requires the funding transfer but does not include the taxes. And perhaps not. Counties may find they have no way to pay for job training, mental health, substance abuse or other rehabilitation programs for the ex-offenders who will be coming home. Or even for jail.

There must be something about that first flight to Sacramento that makes newly elected state lawmakers — many of them former county and city officials — forget that their constituents do not distinguish between state and county failures. If realignment is to become more than the latest California exercise in passing the buck (while keeping the bucks), state officials must step up with a constitutional commitment to funding. Counties must finally gain control over the state funds they need to house, supervise, monitor and — yes, there is still hope — rehabilitate state prisoners and parolees.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-realignment-20110907,0,3078137,print.story

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From Google News

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PM's terrorism 'rhetoric' slammed

Liberals, NDP critical of Harper's plan to adopt sweeping changes to laws

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has come under attack for saying that "Islamicism" poses the greatest security threat to Canada and for declaring that his government will give police broad new anti-terrorism powers that were stripped from them four years ago.

Harper made the comments in a CBC interview to be televised tonight.

Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae said Harper is putting too much focus on Islamic extremists without noting that there are terrorists from other backgrounds.

"We don't have to single out just one," Rae told reporters Wednesday. "I think if you look at the outbursts of extremism around the world, I don't think that you can limit it to just one religion, or ideology or form of nationalism."

And he said Harper should prove his case for why contentious measures - preventive arrests and investigative hearings - should be re-instituted.

"Is the prime minister saying that for the last four or five years we have been at risk, at greater risk, because the measures have not been in place? I think he has to answer that question."

NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar said the upcoming 10th anniversary of 9/11 should be a "time for reflection" on how to build a "more inclusive society to end extremism."

"Let's all guard against the knee-jerk demonizing and overheated rhetoric," said Dewar. "Unfortunately, Mr. Harper continues to use divisive language for political purposes."

Dewar said the prime minister's plan to reintroduce the "draconian" antiterrorist measures aren't backed up by the facts.

"The government has produced no evidence to justify this move. Security is obviously important to Canadians, and we can make Canada secure without resorting to measures like these."

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Chretien government introduced the Anti-Terrorism Act in 2001.

Two items in the legislation caused controversy. Police were given new powers to arrest and detain people suspected of planning a terrorist attack. Under this change, they could keep people in jail for up to three days without having to lay a charge. As well, people suspected of having information about terrorist activity could be compelled to testify before a judge at a secret hearing.

The law required Parliament to reexamine those two powers - known as preventive arrests and investigative hearings - in five years. That sunset clause was part of the Liberals' attempt to strike a balance between public safety and civil rights.

In 2007, with Harper's Tories in office, the Opposition Liberals and other parties in the minority Parliament banded together to rescind those two contentious powers.

But now, with their majority, the Conservatives have the power in Parliament to restore the measures.

In the CBC interview, Harper said that his government plans to do this.

"We think those measures are necessary. We think they've been useful," said Harper. "They're applied rarely, but there are times where they're needed."

Also in the interview, Harper said Canada is still under the threat of terrorism.

"The major threat is still Islamicism," he said. "There are other threats out there, but that is the one that I can tell you occupies the security apparatus most regularly," he said.

"As we've seen in Norway, terrorist threats can come out of the blue. It can come from something completely different, and there are other groups and individuals that if given the chance would engage in terrorism."

The sources of terrorism aren't necessarily from the Middle East, according to Harper.

"Threats exist all over the world. We've seen some recent bombings in Nigeria, domestic Nigerian terrorists," he said. Harper told the CBC that the government is keeping an active "eye" on homegrown terrorist threats as well.

For his part, Rae said the government needs to ensure that it is doing everything it can to understand the "cause" of domestic, homegrown terrorism.

"We shouldn't pretend it isn't a threat. It is a threat. How do we break that up?"

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/terrorism+rhetoric+slammed/5369278/story.html

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From the FBI

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Noted Scientist Pleads Guilty to Attempted Espionage
Scientist Arrested in 2009 Following Undercover Operation

The guilty plea, which took place this morning in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, was announced by Lisa Monaco, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Ronald C. Machen Jr., U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; and James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office.

Nozette, 54, of Chevy Chase, Md., pleaded guilty to one count of attempted espionage. Senior Judge Paul L. Friedman, who presided at the plea hearing, scheduled a status hearing for Nov. 15, 2011. No sentencing date was set. The plea agreement, which is subject to the judge's approval, calls for an agreed-upon prison term of 13 years.

Nozette has been in custody since his arrest on Oct. 19, 2009. FBI agents arrested him following an undercover operation in which he provided classified materials on three occasions, including one occasion that forms the basis for today's guilty plea. He was subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury. The indictment does not allege that the government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf committed any offense under U.S. laws in this case.

“Stewart Nozette betrayed America's trust by attempting to sell some of the nation's most closely guarded secrets for profit. Today, he is being held accountable for his actions. As this case demonstrates, we remain vigilant in protecting America's secrets and in bringing to justice those who compromise them,” said Assistant Attorney General Monaco.

“Stewart Nozette was once a trusted scientist who maintained high-level government security clearances and was frequently granted access to classified information relating to our national defense. Today he is a disgraced criminal who was caught red-handed attempting to trade American secrets for personal profit. He will now have the next 13 years behind bars to contemplate his betrayal,” said U.S. Attorney Machen. “The FBI and its partners deserve tremendous credit for their outstanding work on this case. This investigation and prosecution demonstrate our commitment to identifying and punishing those who would put our national security at risk.”

“Preventing the loss or compromise of high-technology and vital national security information is a top priority of the FBI,” said Assistant Director in Charge McJunkin. “This case is a prime example of what happens when a person decides to sell our nation's most valuable secrets for individual gain.”

Background

Nozette received a Ph.D. in Planetary Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983. He has worked in various capacities on behalf of the U.S. government in the development of state-of-the-art programs in defense and space. For example, Nozette worked at the White House on the National Space Council, Executive Office of the President, from approximately 1989 through 1990. He also worked as a physicist for the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory from approximately 1990 to 1999, where he designed highly advanced technology.

Among other things, Nozette assisted in the development of the Clementine bi-static radar experiment, which purportedly discovered water ice on the south pole of the moon. A version of the Clementine satellite currently hangs on display at the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and was later hailed as the vanguard of the new “faster, cheaper, better” revolution in space exploration.

Nozette was also the president, treasurer and director of the Alliance for Competitive Technology (ACT), a non-profit organization that he organized in March 1990. Between January 2000 and February 2006, Nozette, through his company, ACT, entered into agreements with several government agencies to develop highly advanced technology. Nozette performed some of this research and development at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in Arlington, Va., and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

According to a factual proffer in support of the guilty plea, from 1989 through 2006, Nozette held security clearances as high as TOP SECRET and had regular, frequent access to classified information and documents related to the national defense of the United States. The factual proffer also provides details about the undercover operation that led to Nozette's arrest.

The Investigation

According to the factual proffer, on Feb. 16, 2007, law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at Nozette's home in Maryland as part of a fraud investigation and found classified documents. Further investigation into the classified documents revealed that in 2002, Nozette sent an e-mail threatening to take a classified program he was working on, “to [foreign country] or Israel and do it there selling internationally...” As a result of this and other information giving rise to suspicion of espionage, the FBI decided to conduct an undercover operation.

On Sept. 3, 2009, Nozette was contacted via telephone by an individual purporting to be an Israeli intelligence officer from the Mossad, but who was, in fact, an undercover employee of the FBI. During that call, the defendant agreed to meet with the undercover employee that day on Connecticut Avenue N.W., in front of the Mayflower Hotel in downtown Washington, D.C.

Later that day, Nozette met with the undercover employee and had lunch in the restaurant of the Mayflower Hotel. After the undercover employee made it clear that he was a “Mossad” agent, Nozette stated, “Good. Happy to be of assistance.”

After lunch in the hotel restaurant, Nozette and the undercover employee retired to a hotel suite to continue their discussion. During the conversation, the defendant informed the undercover employee that he had clearances “all the way to Top Secret SCI, I had nuclear…,” that “anything that the U.S. has done in space I've seen,” and that he would provide classified information for money and a foreign passport to a country without extradition to the United States.

The defendant and the undercover employee met again on Sept. 4, 2009, at the Mayflower Hotel. During this encounter, Nozette assured the undercover employee that, although he no longer had legal access to any classified information at a U.S. government facility, he could, nonetheless, recall the classified information to which he had been granted access. The defendant said, “It's in my,” and pointed to his head.

Undercover Operation Continues

On Sept. 10, 2009, FBI agents left a letter in the prearranged “dead drop” facility for the defendant. In the letter, the FBI asked Nozette to answer a list of questions concerning classified U.S. satellite information. FBI agents also provided signature cards, in the defendant's true name and an alias, for Nozette to sign and asked the defendant to provide four passport sized photographs for the Israeli passport the defendant requested. The FBI agents also left $2,000 cash for the defendant in the “dead drop” facility, which Nozette retrieved the same day, along with the questions and signature cards.

On Sept. 16, 2009, Nozette left a manila envelope in the “dead drop” facility in the District of Columbia. One of the “answers” provided by the defendant contained information classified as SECRET/SCI which related to the national defense, in that it directly concerned classified aspects and mission capabilities of a prototype overhead collection system and which disclosure would negate the ability to support military and intelligence operations. In addition to disclosing SECRET/SCI information, Nozette offered to reveal additional classified information that directly concerned nuclear weaponry, military spacecraft or satellites, and other major weapons systems.

On Sept. 17, 2009, FBI agents left a second communication in the “dead drop” facility for the defendant. In the letter, the FBI asked Nozette to answer another list of questions concerning classified U.S. satellite information. Nozette retrieved the questions from the “dead drop” facility later that same day.

On Oct. 1, 2009, Nozette left a manila envelope in the “dead drop” facility in the District of Columbia. The FBI also left a cash payment of $9,000 in the “dead drop” facility. Later that day, the FBI agents retrieved the sealed manila envelope left by the defendant. Inside the envelope, FBI agents discovered the encrypted thumb drive that was provided to Nozette on Sept. 17, 2009, which included another set of “answers” from the defendant. The “answers” contained information classified as TOP SECRET/SCI and other information classified as SECRET/SCI. This classified information related to the national defense, in that it directly concerned satellites, early warning systems, means of defense or retaliation against large-scale attack, communications intelligence information, and major elements of defense strategy. (This information is what formed the basis for the charge in today's guilty plea.)

On Oct. 5, 2009, Nozette left a manila envelope in the “dead drop” facility in the District of Columbia. Later that day, the FBI agents retrieved the sealed manila envelope left by the defendant. Inside the envelope, FBI agents discovered the encrypted thumb drive that was provided to Nozette on Oct. 1, 2009, which included another set of “answers” from the defendant. The “answers” contained information classified as TOP SECRET/SAR. This classified information related to the national defense, in that it directly concerned capabilities of a U.S. military weapon system research and development effort.

Nozette and the undercover employee met again on Oct. 19, 2009, at the Mayflower Hotel. During that meeting, the following exchanges took place:

NOZETTE: “So, uh, I gave you even in this first run, some of the most classified information that there is. . . . I've sort of crossed the Rubicon. . . . Now the, uh, so I think when I said like fifty K, I think that was probably too low. . . .The cost to the U.S. Government was two hundred million. . . . to develop it all. Uh, and then that's not including the launching of it. . .Uh, integrating the satellites. . . . So if you say okay that probably brings it to almost a billion dollars. . . So I tell ya at least two hundred million so I would say, you know, theoretically I should charge you certainly, you know, at most a one percent.”

Nozette was arrested soon after he made these statements. He was subsequently indicted on four charges of attempted espionage. Under the plea agreement, Nozette pleaded guilty to the third count of the indictment, arising out of his passing of TOP SECRET/SCI information on Oct. 1, 2009.

At the time of his arrest, Nozette was awaiting sentencing in another federal case. On Jan. 30, 2009, he pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government with respect to false claims and tax evasion in an amount up to $399,999. In that case, Nozette agreed to pay restitution of $265,205 to the U.S. government. Nozette is awaiting sentencing in the case. Under terms of today's plea, the sentence in the fraud case is to run concurrently with the sentence for attempted espionage.

This investigation was conducted by the FBI's Washington Field Office, with assistance from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Naval Audit Service, National Reconnaissance Office, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Defense Computer Forensics Laboratory, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Defense Contract Audit Agency, U.S. Army 902nd Military Intelligence Group, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Office of Counterintelligence, NASA Office of Inspector General, Department of Energy, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation Division, IRS Tax Exempt & Government Entities group, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Postal Inspection Service, as well as other partners in the U.S. intelligence community.

The prosecution is being handled by Trial Attorneys Deborah A. Curtis and Heather M. Schmidt, from the Counterespionage Section of the Justice Department's National Security Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Asuncion, from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.

http://www.fbi.gov/washingtondc/press-releases/2011/noted-scientist-pleads-guilty-to-attempted-espionage

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