The Nozette Case

I guess I'll eventually have to mention the whole Nozette case. It seems to me, at first blush, that this is not a Pollard retread: Nozette was lured into offering to spy for Israel by a Federal agent, and there's no sign any Israeli agents were actually involved. And if he actually provided information to any foreign government, it may have been India.

There is, however, an element that hasn't gotten much attention so far as I've seen. The criminal complaint against Nozette includes the information that when he was approached he expressed surprise he hadn't heard from "Mossad" (actually the FBI) earlier, becuase "I thought I was working for you already. I mean, that's what I always thought. [The foreign company] was just a front."

The Foreign Company is, apparently, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), for which he has been working for some time. This does not seem to be much of a secret. While a government-owned defense industry, IAI is also a major defense corporation with many US connnections. In itself, it proves nothing about his handling of classified information.

But the indictment clearly says there is no evidence Israel actually tried to recruit him: and of course if he was working for IAI, legally, it would be hard to determine whether he ever passed on classified information. In fact, this whole sting may have come about because it was assumed he had been passing information to IAI.

At this point I don't think it rises to Pollard scales, not because Nozette is necessarily innocent, but because the degree to which Pollard compromised US and regional security has never been spelled out, but every US Administration since the Pollard case has refused any idea of clemency. Pollard, I think, profoundly undermined the security of a key US ally in the Middle East (I believe Egypt, but that's a guess), while Nozette seems to be a man playing James Bond in his spare time. But it's worth watching.