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No threat from visit to Bangalore by Nozette, now arrested for spying: ISRO |
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Wednesday clarified
there is no threat to the organization due to the arrest of senior American space
scientist Daivd Nozette by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the US.
The FBI arrested the NASA scientist Nozette, 52, on the allegation of spying for
Israel on Tuesday. ISRO's Chief Security Officer, Bhaskaran Nair, said Nozette
visited ISRO's establishments in Bangalore twice during the Chandrayaan project
and interacted with scientists but had no access to critical scientific establishments
during the visit. Nair also clarified that there was no concern about loss of
data. "There is no threat to ISRO or to Chandrayaan. ISRO has strict security
protocols for foreign scientists. Accordingly, Nozette had not been allowed access
to critical establishments, as he was not allowed to the clean room. We ensured
complete compliance to the protocol. Like any other foreign national, Nozette
had no access to critical facilities," Nair said. He added that the NASA has not
contacted the ISRO yet, because the US scientist was charged for some other project.
During the Chandrayaan project, the NASA raised numerous questions and delayed
shipment of the Moon Minerology Mapper and the Mini-Synthetic Aperture Radar
(Sar) to Bangalore for testing and integration with the spacecraft. Nozette, a
PhD in planetary sciences, was contacted by an FBI undercover employee last month
posing as a Mossad officer and invited for lunch at a hotel in Washington DC to
part with details about sensitive US satellite data for a sum. Nozette reportedly
quoted a price that went into several thousand dollars. |
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