Stewart David Nozette
Born	May 20, 1957 (1957-05-20) (age 54) Chicago, Illinois, United States
Residence	Chevy Chase, Maryland, United States[1]
Nationality	American
Fields	Geosciences and Planetary Sciences
Institutions	Scripps Institute of Oceanography Ballistic Missile Defense Organization United States Department of Energy Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (1990–1999) United States Department of Defense National Space Council (1989–1990) NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Alliance for Competitive Technology (1990–present) U.S. Naval Research Laboratory DARPA
Alma mater	University of Arizona Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Known for	Charges he attempted to transfer American nuclear and space technology to Israel
Notable awards	NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal 1994 for his conception and execution of the Clementine mission *National Space Society’s 25 Young Space Pioneers for 1994 *National Space Society 1994 Award for Achievement in Science and Engineering *Rotary National Award for Space Achievement *National Space Club Nelson P Jackson Award *Aviation Week and Space Technology 1994 Aerospace Laurel Award for outstanding achievement in the field of Space *1995 Space Frontier Foundation Vision to Reality Award *X-Prize Foundation New Spirit of St. Louis Award
Notes [2][3]

Dr. Stewart David Nozette (born May 20, 1957) is an American scientist and astronomer. He has worked for the United States Department of Energy, the United States Department of Defense, and NASA.^[4] His research has resulted in multiple publications in the journal Science. The FBI arrested him October 19, 2009 charging him with attempted espionage, after a sting operation.^[3] Nozette allegedly sold U.S. classified information to someone he believed was an Israeli Mossad operative, but was in reality an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation employee.

[edit] Personal life and education

Nozette was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 20, 1957, and grew up in its West Rogers Park neighborhood. He earned a B.S. in geosciences with honors and distinction (University of Arizona, 1979), and a Ph.D. in Planetary sciences (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1983).^[3][5]

[edit] Career

Over the course of his career Nozette, held high level security clearances and worked on sensitive United States nuclear and satellite programs.^[1] He held a Q clearance, top secret clearance, and was read into multiple special access programs.^[3]

In 1983-1984 Nozette was co-director of the California Space Institute, affiliated with the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at UC San Diego. From there he went to Austin, Texas.

With NASA, Nozette's experiments led to the discovery of water on the south pole of the moon. He held security clearances to study nuclear material with the United States Department of Energy, and was on the National Space Council under President George H. W. Bush.^[4] From 1989 to 2006, Nozette held a security clearance as high as top secret and handled documents relating to national security.^[4] He left the employ of the U.S. government in 2006.^[6]

After he left the government job, Nozette was heavily involved in India's extraterrestrial Moon probe, Chandrayaan-1. He was a principal investigator on the Mini-RF Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and a co-investigator on Chandrayaan-1.^[5]

[edit] Espionage and arrest

The FBI became suspicious of Nozette after an odd trip abroad, and in September 2009, Nozette began receiving phone calls from a person claiming to be an agent of Mossad.^[6] According to the FBI, upon meeting this contact, in reality an undercover FBI agent, Nozette claimed a willingness to exchange American intelligence for money, and demanded $10,000 to prevent him from reporting the incident to authorities.^[4][6] His first payment was received upon his answers to a list of questions regarding American satellite technology.^[6] The information he claimed he would hand over included classified information on nuclear weapons, spacecraft, satellites, and major weapon systems. A folder left for this contact in a post office box contained "information classified as both top secret and secret that concerned US satellites, early warning systems, means of defense or retaliation against large-scale attack, communications intelligence information, and major elements of defense strategy."^[4] The United States Department of Justice criminal complaint, however, does not charge that "the government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf committed any offense under U.S. laws."^[3][7]

According to the criminal complaint, Nozette told his espionage contact that his parents were Jewish people, and therefore claimed a right to return under Israel's Law of Return. He also asked for an Israeli passport.^[3]

[edit] Selected publications

• Spudis, Paul D.; Bussey, B., Lichtenberg, C., Marinelli, B. and Nozette, S. (2005). "mini-SAR: An Imaging Radar for the Chandrayaan 1 Mission to the Moon". Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 26: 1153. 
• Nozette, Stewart; et al. (2001). "Integration of lunar polar remote-sensing data sets: Evidence for ice at the lunar south pole". Journal of Geophysical Research 106: 23253–23266. 
• Pettengill, G.H.; Ford, P.G., and Nozette, S. (1982). "Venus: Global Surface Radar Reflectivity". Science 217: 640–642. 
• Nozette, Stewart; et al. (16 December 1994). "The Clementine mission to the Moon". Science 266 (5192): 1835–1839. doi:10.1126/science.266.5192.1835. PMID 17737076. 
• Nozette, Stewart; John S. Lewis (9 April 1982). "Venus: Chemical Weathering of Igneous Rocks and Buffering of Atmospheric Composition". Science 216 (4542): 181–183. doi:10.1126/science.216.4542.181. 
• Nozette, S.; Boynton, W.V (16 October 1981). "Superheavy Elements: An Early Solar System Upper Limit for Elements 107 to 110". Science 214 (4518): 331–333. doi:10.1126/science.214.4518.331. 

[edit] Notes

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