Stewart David Nozette
Anyone granted Top Secret clearance in the United States is supposed to be smart, right? Certainly they would be expected to be smart enough to think twice if they receive a phone call from someone claiming to be from the Israeli secret intelligence agency, Mossad, and asking them to sell secrets. Apparently not. For this is exactly how Stewart David Nozette, referred to be some as ‘The Worst Spy Ever’ got caught.
While his own stupidity may have been his downfall, there’s no doubting that Nozette is a smart guy. Born in Chicago in 1957, he went on to study Geosciences at the University of Arizona before earning his PhD from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1983. With a stellar academic career behind him, Nozette then gained employment with the California Space Institute. He then led the design and development of the Clementine spacecraft, an ingenious device capable of testing for water on the lunar surface. Given his expertise, he was appointed to the National Space Council under President George H.W. Bush, a post that required Top Secret clearance and access to highly sensitive documents relating to national security.
All the while, however, Nozette was apparently taking more than a regular pay check from his employers. Over the years, he was submitting varied expense claims to NASA, including billings for several mortgages and even tennis club membership. Unsurprisingly, this attracted the attention of the Justice Department, who decided to investigate further. They stumbled across an e-mail in which Nozette warned he might divulge classified information to a foreign country, perhaps Israel. Alarmed, the investigators passed on the information to the FBI. The Feds decided to set a trap to see if this was mere bravado or if Nozette meant what he said.
In September of 2009, then, Nozette started receiving phone calls from an anonymous person claiming to be a Mossad agent. Would he be willing to exchange classified information for money? Nozette said he would. What’s more, he provided answers to some questions ‘Mossad’ posed to test his reliability and access to sensitive material. Having seemingly gained the spies’ trust, Nozette then left a folder full of data relating to US early warning systems in a post office box for agents to pick up. At this point, the FBI decided to swoop. They arrested Nozette and his espionage career was over before it had really begun.
In the end, Nozette was convicted of just a single charge of espionage and sentenced to 13 years in prison. Quite why he was so willing to spy on his country remains something of a mystery. Certainly, it wasn’t for the money. In the first instance, he asked for $11,000 in exchange for information, a tiny sum compared to what most traitors ask for. It’s more likely that he was a genuine Israeli sympathizer and volunteered to help the country. He genuinely wanted to be a Mossad mole in the American space program. If only Mossad had actually been interested…