Posted on 01/14/2014 5:41:18 PM PST by kristinn
An engineer for a major American defense contractor tried to smuggle thousands of secret documents, including blueprints, on America's multi-billion-dollar F-35 stealth fighter to Iran in boxes labeled as "household goods," U.S. prosecutors say.
Mozaffar Khazaee, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen, was reportedly arrested late last week as he was attempting to travel to Germany and then on to Iran. Weeks earlier, Khazaee had arranged for a shipping company to take boxes containing "sensitive technical manuals, specification sheets, and other proprietary material" related to the F-35 and its engines to a contact in Iran, according to an affidavit filed by a Special Agent of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations.
The reams of documents were discovered in November when Customs officers inspected a truck shipment Khazaee had sent from Connecticut to California, which was intended to go on to Hamadan, Iran, the affidavit said. The 44 boxes, which had been described to the shipping company as containing "books and college-related items, two suitcases, a vacuum cleaner and some other items," actually held "thousands of pages contained in dozens of manuals/binders relating to the JSF [F-35 Joint Strike Fighter] program."
Court documents describe Khazaee as having worked as an engineer for several defense contractors, leaving his most recent employer last August. None of the contractors are identified in the court documents, but the latest employer, Company A, is described as a Connecticut-based contractor that produced the F-22 Raptor's F-119 engine.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Because they are islamic names.
Post 33 may have it right, the F-35 is turning into such a flop that if Red China, Iran & our other potential adversaries go all out to make a lot of expensive copies, we may come out ahead. I think our aging Super Hornets may be superior to the F-35s.
A dual U.S.-Iranian citizen having access to sensitive documents? Who could have seen this coming? He should be hung and the idiot that hired him should be hung too.
and while we’re at it no student visas
No argument here!
It’s way past time to say enough is enough.
This guy immigrated to the U.S. in 1991, well after the Iranian revolution.
This guy kept dual-national status, including his Iranian passport.
This guy was granted access to sensitive defense information.
This is B.S. political correctness.
We used to never allow someone from an embargoed country such access. We used to not allow a American born child of a Soviet emigree was not allowed certain high-level clearances.
Of course, we cannot discriminate against citizens, especially citizens from the third world. But citizenship has become cheap, and apparently we do not look beyond that on a background check.
I bet this guy came to the U.S. claiming refugee status, and was allowed in outside of normal immigration quotas, and was fast-tracked to citizenship.
In the old days that might have been possible. Then again this is ABC News...
always good to have people on the other side… I mean crapola when will we figure it out???
The affidavit states travel records show Khazaee has traveled to Iran at least five times in the last seven years
Wow. Up to ten years for stealing Billions of dollars worth of R & D that will really put off any imitators. I wonder if he faces deportation after he gets out.(/s)
Returned to Iran five times in seven years. The Inspector Clouseaus in charge of security are really on the ball.
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