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Commentary:
The irony of the verdict in the case cited in the Miami Herald report below is all too obvious to rehash. The bottom-line is that while passing information bound by agreement between 2 “friendly” nations for the U.S. to provide American ally Israel and which was crucial to the security and survival of Israel (and which agreement was defaulted upon by the U.S.), landed Jonathan Pollard in prison for life, an ex-professor is handed a 4 year prison sentence for passing militay secrets to hostile nations; Iran and China:
A federal judge sentenced a retired University of Tennessee professor to four years in prison Wednesday for passing sensitive information from a U.S. Air Force contract to two research assistants from China and Iran.
Plasma physics expert J. Reece Roth was found guilty in September on all 18 counts of conspiracy, fraud and violating the Arms Export Control Act.
The case marked the first time the government used the export control act to crack down on the distribution of restricted data, not hardware, to foreigners in a university setting.
Prosecutors said Roth allowed the two graduate students to see sensitive information while they researched a plasma-guidance system for unmanned aircraft.
Roth, 71, testified at trial that he didn’t believe he broke the law because the research had yet to produce anything tangible. He said he received only about $6,000 from the contract.
Roth, who is appealing his conviction, faced a maximum of 160 years in prison and more than $1.5 million in fines.
The charges involved work performed from 2004 to 2006 on two Air Force contracts by Roth; graduate students Xin Dai of China and Sirous Nourgostar of Iran; and university spinoff company Atmospheric Glow Technologies Inc. of Knoxville.
Prosecutors presented several documents suggesting research by Roth’s university laboratory and Atmospheric Glow Technologies was restricted. Roth attempted to keep the sensitive research with an American graduate student and the rest with a foreign student, but eventually the data was shared.
Roth also was accused of taking reports and related studies in his laptop to China during a lecture tour in 2006, and having one report e-mailed to him there through a Chinese professor’s Internet connection.
Atmospheric Glow Technologies has pleaded guilty to 10 counts of exporting defense-related materials, and Roth protege Daniel Sherman has pleaded guilty to conspiracy.
And while Pollard sits for life and this spy walks in 4 years, the current government of Israel, like all of its predecessors, refuses to make any effort to act on Jonathan’s behalf and bring about the commutation of sentence to time served and to bring about his freedom and return to his family and to his people. MB