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Stealth bomber engineer sentenced for spying
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Thursday, January 27, 2011
A former Northrop Grumman Corp engineer who worked on the Stealth bomber has been sentenced to 32 years in prison for providing classified national defense information to the People's Republic of China (PRC), illegally exporting military technical data, as well as money laundering, filing false tax returns, and other offenses.
According to the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), Noshir S Gowadia, 66, of Maui, was sentenced this week to 32 years in prison. Gowadia was an engineer with Northrop Grumman from 1968 to 1986. Over that time he contributed to the development of the propulsion system and low observable capabilities of the B-2 Spirit bomber, often referred to as the Stealth bomber. Gowadia also continued to work on classified matters as a contractor with the US government until 1997, when his security clearance was terminated, the FBI said.
The sentencing followed an August 9, 2010 ruling by a federal jury in which Gowadia was found guilty of five criminal offenses relating to his design for the PRC of a low-signature cruise missile exhaust system capable of rendering a PRC cruise missile resistant to detection by infrared missiles.
The jury also convicted Gowadia in three counts of illegally communicating classified information regarding lock-on range for infrared missiles against the US B-2 bomber to persons not authorized to receive such information. Gowadia was also convicted of unlawfully exporting classified information about the B-2, illegally retaining information related to US national defense at his home, money laundering, and filing false tax returns for the years 2001 and 2002.
According to evidence presented at Gowadia's trial, Gowadia took six trips to the PRC to provide defense services in the form of design, test support, and test data analysis of technologies for the purpose of assisting the PRC with a cruise missile system by developing a stealthy exhaust nozzle. At the time of his arrest, Gowadia had been paid at least $110,000 by the PRC, the FBI estimated.
"Mr Gowadia went beyond disclosing information to China, he performed defense work in that nation with the purpose of assisting them in their stealth weapons design programs," said US Attorney Florence T Nakakuni in a statement. "While the full damage of his activities may never be known, we are comforted that justice has been done, and that Mr Gowadia will spend 32 years in federal prison, incapable of betraying the United States of America again."
The case was investigated by FBI, the US Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the IRS' Criminal Investigation Division, US Customs and Border Protection, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls.
The sentencing was the second in a week related to spying for the PRC. Glenn Duffie Shriver, 28, of Grand Rapids, Mich, was sentenced to 48 months in prison for conspiring to provide national defense information to intelligence officers of the PRC on January 21. In that case Shriver attempted to gain a position in an US intelligence agency or law enforcement organization for access to information to illegally share with PRC.
The sentencing also follows a December 2010 FBI arrest of a Woodinville, Wash, man who allegedly attempted to smuggle sensitive military technology to the People's Republic of China.
By: DocMemory
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