Here We Go Again; Spying

Lenny Ben-David sent me this:

1. No indication yet that Steward David Nozette is Jewish.

2. Nozette did serve as a consultant for an Israeli firm for 10 years, according to Bloomberg News. He averaged $22,500 a year. For a federal employee to work in such a job for 10 years, he had to have received government approval.

Bloomberg: From November 1998 through January 2008, Nozette worked as a technical consultant for an aerospace company that was owned by the government of Israel. Once a month, Nozette answered questions posed by the company in return for payments totaling about $225,000 over that period, according to a criminal complaint. Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman, declined to name the company. In January, Nozette traveled to an unnamed country carrying two computer thumb drives that were found in his baggage by an airport security inspector, according to the criminal complaint. When he returned to the U.S., he was searched by a customs officer who couldn’t locate the drives, the complaint said. On Sept. 3, he was contacted by telephone by an individual claiming to be an Israeli intelligence officer, according to the Justice Department http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aIOQskKerl6Q

3. The Justice Department stated that there was no Israeli involvement in the case. Justice: “The complaint does not allege that the government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf committed any offense under U.S. laws in this case.” http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/October/09-nsd-1122.html But who gets that message?

4. The bigger issue: Why did the Justice Dept/FBI use “Israeli agents” as the bait? Why not Indian, or Iranian? To win brownie points with the Obama White House? To join the anti-Israel Jihad going on in the press? The sting operation – (getting even after losing the Rosen case?) – gives the public impression that Israel is still the rogue, spying state.

5. News agencies have posted pictures of Nozette in India. Why not claim he was contacted by an Indian? http://news.aol.com/article/fbi-arrests-scientist-stewart-david/723533

Lenny Ben-David

Read 3rd comment here.