Stewart David Nozette convicted
for
espionage against the United States
"I thought I was working for you already. I mean, that's what I always
thought, Israel Aerospace Industries was just a front."
Documents
The FBI arrested
Stewart Nozette on October 19, 2009, US Attorneys charged him with attempted
espionage. Case files allege Nozette's impersonation of colleague's email account
to gain access to classified information and transport of USB thumb
drives (possibly loaded with classified information) overseas. Court
filings
reveal Nozette's efforts to reverse AG Eric Holder's imposition of
"Special Administrative Measures" that limited his communications,
including unmonitored private conversations with his wife. A
concurrent FBI fraud investigation investigated Nozette's role as a paid
consultant of of Israeli Aircraft Industries.
On March 23, 2012 Nozette was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Note, the following court documents have been selected for their
relevance to understanding the case, but do not represent a complete
record of all docket entries and filings.
Document/File
Date
Contents
03/23/2012
SEALED
New
STATEMENT OF REASONS as to STEWART DAVID NOZETTE
re JUDGMENT. Not for public disclosure per Judicial Conference
Policy. Signed by Judge Paul L. Friedman on 3/23/12. (mlp)
(Entered: 03/28/2012)
JUDGMENT as to STEWART DAVID NOZETTE. Statement
of Reasons Not Included. Signed by Judge Paul L. Friedman on
3/23/12. (Attachment: # 1 Attachment: Copy of Consent Order of
Forfeiture filed on 9/7/11) (mlp) (Entered: 03/28/2012)
Recommendations. "Incarceration as close to Washington, DC
metropolitan area as possible in the least restrictive
conditions of confinement consistent with any administrative
measures by the Bureau of Prisons." Forfeiture of $9,600
received in sting operation.
03/21/2012
Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge
Paul L. Friedman: Sentencing held on 3/21/2012 as to STEWART
DAVID NOZETTE (1). Counts 1-2, 1s-3s, 1ss-2ss, 4ss dismissed on
government's motion. Count 3ss: Defendant sentenced to One
Hundred Fifty-Six (156) months incarceration to run concurrently
with the sentence imposed in 1:08-cr-371 (PLF) followed by a
Thirty-Six (36) month term of supervised release to run
concurrently with the term of supervised release imposed in
1:08-cr-371 (PLF). Special assessment of $100.00 imposed. Bond
Status of Defendant: Committed. Commitment issued.; Court
Reporter: Catalina Kerr; Defense Attorneys: John C. Kiyonaga and
Robert L. Tucker; US Attorneys: Anthony Asuncion, Heather M.
Schmidt and Deborah A. Curtis; Prob Officer: Linsey Epson. (zmm,
) (Entered: 03/21/2012)
RESPONSE by STEWART DAVID NOZETTE re 72
Sentencing Memorandum (zmm, ) (Entered: 03/21/2012) "...the
rather vanilla observation that Dr. Nozette had once searched
the internet for information relating to Julius and Ethel
Rosenberg, a case which still holds an abiding interest to
many."
REPLY BY USA as to STEWART DAVID NOZETTE
On March 7, 2012, the defense filed a 40-page
�Defendant�s Sentencing Memorandum�
devoid of even the slightest expression of remorse, positing the
absurd theory that � in spite of his
considerable resources, brilliance, acclaim, and loving family �
Nozette was left with virtually no
choice but to commit espionage given his situation after
pleading guilty to fraud and tax evasionand the aggressive nature in which the government agents
pursued the case against him. "Defendant
suggests, for instance, thatthe
agents decided to �take advantage of that fact that Dr. Nozette
is Jewish and might be moreresponsive
to an approach designed to help [Israel].�
"...the [US]
government served a subpoena on the IAI for all its records
related to Dr. Nozette's employment as a consultant. Although it
never told Dr. Nozette about the subpoena, approximately six
months later IAI decided not to renew Dr. Nozette's
contract...""...Less than seven months before the undercover
operation the agents had been told by one of his colleagues that
Dr. Nozette said he had a gun, it was loaded and he planned to
kill himself if the U.S. government put him in jail...." "...on,
July 20,2009, the lead espionage agent excitedly wrote the fraud
agent that she "[C]an' t wait to hear the tapes produced during
Dr. NoZzette's cooperation]. I 'm sure they will be a big help in
helping us wrap our heads around him. Good luck with
everything!" "Many Jews in this country are proud
and public supporters of Israe1 and have high respect for the
Mossad, an agency that is well-known to have played a crucial
role in the nation's survival. Indeed, support across the
political horizon for the State of Israel and, by implication,
an agency as central to its collective psyche as the Mossad, was
heartily reaffirmed by the reception given Prime Minister
Netanyahu in his address to the U.S. Congress last year. .."
""The face to face [sic] problem was mostly the political . .
.sensitivities about about, you know, how, what congressmen and
what senators were doing what . . . I remember I talked to John
Warner one time . . . . about urn, doing some joint stuf f with
Israel. . . . And he said he 'd love to. Bring him some
specifics..."
'Defendant Stewart David
Nozette sought to sell some of America�s most closely guarded
secrets � including information directly concerning satellites
classified as Top Secret/SCI � to a person he believed was an
agent for a foreign intelligence organization. His motive for
betraying his country was greed, pure and simple"
01/17/2012
ORDER as to STEWART DAVID NOZETTE: Sentencing set
for 3/21/2012 @ 9:00 a.m. in Courtroom 29A before Judge Paul L.
Friedman.
PLEA AGREEMENT "This
letter sets forth the final offer of a plea agreement ("Plea
Agreement") between theOffice of the
United States Attorney for the District of Columbia and the
CounterespionageSection of the
National Security Division of the Department of Justice
(hereinafter alsocollectively
referred to as "the Government" or "this Office") and your
client, Stewart DavidNozette
(hereinafter also referred to as "your client" or "the
defendant"). It
expires at 5:00 p.m.on
August 17,2011....Your
client shall have no contact with any foreigngovernment or agents thereof, except with the express
permission of the FBI.
09/07/2021
WAIVER of Right to Trial by
Jury as to STEWART DAVID NOZETTE
08/10/2011
Status Conference scheduled for 9/8/2011
@ 10AM in Courtroom 29A before Judge
Paul L. Friedman.
08/01/2011
Nozette public defender Robert L. Tucker retires
from government employment at the Federal Public Defenders
Office. Is appointed counsel pursuant to Criminal Justice
Act effective August 1, 2011 by Judge Paul L. Friedman.
Counsel for the defendant,
Stewart Nozette, requests a continuance of scheduled 6/22/2011
status conference to first week of August, 2011 since the
parties "continue to engage in discovery and expect that they
will be in a position to propose a motions schedule at that
time..." Continuance until August 1, 2011
granted by Judge Paul L. Friedman.
03/16/2011
Minute Entry for
proceedings held before Judge Paul L. Friedman: Status
Conference as to STEWART DAVID NOZETTE held on 3/16/2011. Oral
request by the government for a further Status Conference in the
latter part of June, 2011; granted. Next Status Conference set
for 6/22/2011 at 09:30 AM in Courtroom 29A before Judge Paul L.
Friedman. Bond Status of Defendant: Committed/Commitment issued;
Court Reporter: Lisa Schwam. Defense Attorney: Robert L. Tucker
and John C. Kiyonaga; US Attorney: Anthony Asuncion, Heather M.
Schmidt, and Deborah A. Curtis.
03/16/2011
Minute Entry for
proceedings held before Judge Paul L. Friedman: Status
Conference as to STEWART DAVID NOZETTE held on 3/16/2011. Oral
request by the government for a further Status Conference in the
latter part of June, 2011; granted. Next Status Conference set
for 6/22/2011 at 09:30 AM in Courtroom 29A before Judge Paul L.
Friedman. Bond Status of Defendant: Committed/Commitment issued;
Court Reporter: Lisa Schwam. Defense Attorney: Robert L. Tucker
and John C. Kiyonaga; US Attorney: Anthony Asuncion, Heather M.
Schmidt, and Deborah A. Curtis.
01/31/2011
The Status Conference,
currently set for 2/1/2011 @ 9:00 a.m., is hereby reset to
3/1/2011 @ 10:00 a.m. in Courtroom 29A before Judge Paul L.
Friedman. Signed by Judge Paul L. Friedman on 1/31/2011. (zmm, )
(Entered: 01/31/2011)
12/06/2010
Minute Entry for
proceedings held before Judge Paul L. Friedman: Status
Conference as to STEWART DAVID NOZETTE held on 12/6/2010. Next
Status Conference set for 2/1/2011 @ 09:00 AM in Courtroom 29A
before Judge Paul L. Friedman. Bond Status of Defendant:
Defendant committed. Commitment issued.; Court Reporter: Rebecca
Stonestreet; Defense Attorney: John C. Kiyonaga and Robert L.
Tucker; US Attorney: Anthony Asuncion and Deborah A. Curtis. (zmm,
) (Entered: 12/06/2010)
Superseding
indictment. "STEWART DAVID NOZETTE, did knowingly and
unlawfully attempt to communicate, deliver, and transmit to a
foreign government, to wit the Government of the State of
Israel, and representatives, officers, and agents thereof,
directly and indirectly, documents and information relating to
the national defense of the United States, specifically,
documents and information classified SECRET/SCI which directly
concerned classified aspects and mission capabilities of a
prototype overhead collection system and which disclosure could
negate the ability to support military and intelligence
operations, with the intent and reason to believe that such
documents and information were to be used to the injury of the
United States and to the advantage of a foreign government,
namely, the Government of the State of Israel.
Nozette requests that the
court strike the Attorney General's imposition of "special
administrative measures" governing Nozette's imprisonment at the
DC jail which "go well beyond those generally applicable to
pretrial detainees..."
Nozette challenges Special
Administrative Measures as unconstitutional. SAM imposed
on Nozette include:
Telephone Contacts:
Mr. Nozette may only use the telephone to speak withimmediate family members, government officials may
limit the calls to one amonth and
the FBI, among others, may monitor and record the calls.
Attachment
Visitation: Similar rules apply to visitation. Mr. Nozette
may only visit withimmediate
family members. Such visits can only take place with a
minimum of14 calendar days notice
to the government and may be monitored by the FBI.
Non-legal mail: Other than with the courts, members of the
prosecution team andCongress, Mr.
Nozette may only correspond with immediate family members
andmay be limited to three pieces
of paper once per calendar week per recipient. Allcorrespondence with his family is to be copied and
sent to the FBI, who willreview
the same and forward it to the recipient within two weeks.
Religious services and visitation: Mr. Nozette is prohibited
from engaging ingroup prayer with
other inmates, the FBI or other government official mustapprove his contact with any religious representation
and the FBI may, at its
discretion, attend and record any such religious-based
contact.
Solitary
Confinement and Prohibition of Contact with Other Inmates:
The SAMprovides that Mr. Nozette
is to kept in solitary confinement. He is not only to beconfined in a single-inmate cell, but also prohibited
from making any statementwhich
another inmates might overhear and from otherwise
communicating withanother inmate.
Access to radio, television, newspapers and other
publications: Mr. Nozette is
prohibited from access to radio and television and may only
receive newspapers,books and
other publications at the discretion of the FBI or other
governmentofficials.
Government prosecutors
notify the court of "intent to introduce evidence of prior
conduct of the defendant". The government seizes several
computer devices containing classified information in safe
deposit boxes in California which Nozette thought would
"become
valuable someday."
The filing details
Nozette's alleged 2002
attempt to obtain classified
information during which
heimpersonated
a Navy Research Laboratory employee
by email.
The Counterespionage
Section, National Security Division with the concurrence of the
FBI requests that Special Administrative Measures be reduced to
allow Nozette access to "publications/newspapers, television and
radio."
The government files
opposition to the defendant's move to suppress. Filing
includes dialogue with an undercover FBI employee (UCE) during
which Nozette agrees to spy for the Mossad.
�UCE: �.I�ll just say it
real quick and then we�ll just
move on. Quick, I wanna clarify something from the start.
And I don�t say it very often, but umm, I work for Israeli
Intelligence�
NOZETTE: Mm-hmm
UCE:�Agency known here as Mossad.
NOZETTE: Mm-hmm
UCE: So from now on I�m not gonna say this. But if I say
service�
NOZETTE: Mm-hmm
UCE: �.so you know what that, what it is. But I just wanna be
sure, I�ll let it out so we don�t have any ambiguity later on.
But�.
NOZETTE:�.Mm-hmm
UCE: How you doin�?
NOZETTE: Good. Happy to be of assistance.�
Nozette is incarcerated
under special administrative measures (SAM)imposed
by Attorney General Eric Holder based on the danger that
"Nozette will disclose classified information, that the
unauthorized disclosure of such information would pose a threat
to the national security of the United States, and that the SAM
on Nozette are reasonably necessary to prevent disclosure of
such information." The order is
renewable on October 21, 2010.
A
Grand Jury indicts Stewart D. Nozette on the basis that he did
"knowingly and unlawfully attempt to communicate, deliver, and
transmit to a foreign government, to the Government of the State
of Israel, and representatives, officers, and agents thereof,
directly and indirectly, documents and information relating to
the national defense of the United States."
An affidavit in support of
a criminal complaint and arrest warrant certifies that Nozette
held special security clearance "Q" from the Department of
Energy, equivalent to the US Department of Defense Top Secret
and Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information clearances.
DOE clearances provide to access to information specifically
relating to atomic or nuclear-related materials.
The
complaint details an FBI sting operation against Nozette during
which he agrees to spy for what he thinks is the Mossad.
