theSun | WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 21 2009
news without borders
Scientist charged
with spying for Israel
WASHINGTON: The US au-
thorities arrested on Monday a
leading American scientist who
had worked for the Pentagon
and Nasa and charged him with
attempted spying for Israel.
Stewart Nozette, 52, was
apprehended after a sting opera-
tion involving an undercover FBI
agent, the Department of Justice
(DOJ) said, adding that there was
no wrongdoing by Israel.
He is charged with “attempt-
ed espionage for knowingly
and wilfully attempting to com-
municate, deliver, and transmit
classified information relating
to the national defence of the
United States to an individual
that Nozette believed to be an
Israeli intelligence officer.”
Nozette, who was arrested in
the Washington suburb of Chevy
Chase, Maryland and taken into
custody is expected to appear
in court on the charge, which
carries a maximum sentence of
life in prison.
Nozette, 52, developed an
experiment that fuelled the
discovery of water on the south
pole of the moon, and previously
held special security clearance
at the Department of Energy on
atomic materials.
In addition to stints with Nasa
and the Department of Energy,
Nozette worked at the White
House on the National Space
Council under then-president
George H.W. Bush in 1989 and
1990.
“From 1989 through 2006,
Nozette held security clear-
ances as high as top secret and
had regular, frequent access
to classified information and
documents related to the US
national defence,” the Justice
Department said.
In early September, Nozette
received a phone call from a per-
son “purporting to be an Israeli
intelligence officer, but who was
in fact an undercover employee
of the FBI,” the DOJ said.
“Nozette met with the
undercover employee that day
and discussed his willingness to
work for Israeli intelligence,” in-
forming the agent that “he had,
in the past, held top security
clearances and had access to
US satellite information.”
The scientist offered to
“answer questions about this
information in exchange for
money.”
Over the next several weeks,
Nozette and the undercover
agent exchanged envelopes
of money for answers to lists
of questions about US satellite
technology. – AFP
Police scour Rio for
attackers of chopper
RIO DE JANEIRO: Police on
Monday scoured Rio for criminals
who shot down a helicopter as
Brazil tried to prove it can quell
rampant violence in the city before
hosting the 2014 World Cup and
the 2016 Olympics.
More than 1,700 officers were
Citizen deployed in northern Rio de Ja-
Nades: neiro, scene of weekend clashes
Learning between drug gangs and police
that left at least 17 people dead ac-
from the cording to police, or 21 according
A-G’s to some media.
report Three of those killed were po-
licemen in the helicopter brought
pg 18 down on Saturday as it surveyed
a turf war between rival gangs in
the Morro dos Macacos slum.
Two of those officers died when
the police chopper crashed and
exploded into a fireball. The third
died on Monday after suffering
severe burns in the crash.
The pilot and the two other
officers in the aircraft survived,
though one remains in a serious
condition.
The attack on the helicopter
triggered a massive ground con-
frontation between police and
gangs on Saturday and Sunday
that left at least 14 residents dead.
Police said most were suspected
gang members, though at least
three appeared to be innocent
civilians caught in the crossfire.
A spokesman, Maj Oderlei
Santos, told Globo television the
anti-gang operation was open-
ended and “the military police will
work tirelessly to track down and
capture these criminals.”
President Luiz Inacio Lula
da Silva who led Brazil’s efforts
to secure the 2016 Olympics for
Rio in a ceremony on Oct 2, said
his government was working to
tamp down the endemic violence
in the city’s slums and “clean the
dirt” marring Rio’s international
image.
The scale of the challenge,
however, is immense.
Around a third of Rio’s popula-
tion of six million live in the 1,000
9
slums nestled in the coastal city.
Known as favelas, the shantytowns
in some cases abut the popular
tourist beach areas of Ipanema
and Copacabana.
Violence is rife in Rio, with
6,000 homicides recorded last year.
Muggings are extremely common.
Frequent clashes between police
and slum gangs intensified since
mid-2007, when Governor Cabral
declared war on the criminals.
Both sides are heavily armed,
with the drug gangs ruling many
of the favelas stockpiling heavy-
caliber weapons, some of which
can even be used to penetrate ar-
moured vehicles or down aircraft.
The head of Rio’s security sec-
retariat, Jose Mariano Beltrame,
said it was believed a big “.38- or
.50-caliber” automatic gun brought
down the police helicopter on
Saturday, though tests were being
carried out to verify that.
Nine similarly fearsome weap-
ons have already been seized this
year in slum raids.
“The firepower of Rio’s drug
dealers is frightening,” said Dilson
Ferreira Anaide, head of Rio state’s
military officers’ association.
“The bandits now have weap-
ons capable of shooting down
small planes; that’s really serious.
This is the first time, in Rio and in
Brazil, that they’ve brought down
a helicopter,” he said.
Brazil’s long, largely unpatrolled
borders meant it was relatively
easy for the gangs to procure arms
and drugs, he explained. – AFP