Nozette Spy Case: Is India “Country A”?

Accused spy Steward David Nozette in India.

Justin Elliot at Talking Points Memo looks into accused spy Stewart David Nozette’s dealings with India. Nozette was co-investigator for a NASA experiment that flew aboard India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter.

A curious section in the criminal complaint suggests that there was a foreign country — identified only as “Country A” — to which Nozette may have passed information. And there’s circumstantial evidence suggesting one “Country A” candidate is India….

…According to the complaint, Nozette in January traveled to Country A, taking two computer thumb drives along, but returning without them.

There’s no crime alleged regarding the trip to Country A, but the Feds were clearly tracking Nozette at the time, because a TSA officer searched him as he was leaving the country, noting the drives, and a customs officer “thoroughly” searched him on the way back, observing that he no longer had the drives.

According to the complaint, Nozette also told a colleague sometime before the January trip that, if the government tried to “put him in jail” in an unrelated case involving his non-profit, Nozette would move to Israel or Country A and “tell them everything” he knew.

And right around the dates of Nozette’s trip to Country A — roughly January 6 to 28, according to the complaint — there was a lot of activity going on with Chandrayaan-1, which was launched in October 2008.

You can read Eliott’s story here.

The Indian media has begun to look into the case, although it is largely focused on whether Nozette had spied on India:

ISRO’s Chief Security Officer, Bhaskaran Nair, said Nozette visited ISRO’s establishments in Bangalore twice during the Chandrayan project and interacted with scientists but had no access to critical scientific establishments during the visit.

Nair also clarified that there was no concern about loss of data.

“There is no threat to ISRO or to Chandrayaan. ISRO has strict security protocols for foreign scientists. Accordingly, Nozette had not been allowed access to critical establishments, as he was not allowed to the clean room. We ensured complete compliance to the protocol. Like any other foreign national, Nozette had no access to critical facilities,” Nair said.

The more obvious question is whether India had more to learn from the NASA technology than Nozette could learn from ISRO. The article sort of raises the issue without really ever saying so directly:

During the Chandrayan project, the NASA raised numerous questions and delayed shipment of the Moon Minerology Mapper and the Mini- Synthetic Aperture Radar (Sar) to Bangalore for testing and integration with the spacecraft.

Stay tuned. I don’t think this case is over by a long shot.