{"id":12877,"date":"2015-06-16T11:51:53","date_gmt":"2015-06-16T18:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12877"},"modified":"2015-06-16T11:51:53","modified_gmt":"2015-06-16T18:51:53","slug":"man-pleads-guilty-to-trying-to-steal-naval-top-secrets-to-give-them-to-egypt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=12877","title":{"rendered":"Man Pleads Guilty to Trying to Steal Naval Top Secrets to Give Them to Egypt"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON<\/strong><\/p>\n

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While serving as a Navy engineer, \u00a0Mostafa Ahmed Awwad\u00a0<\/strong>admitted on Thursday that he tried to provide Naval top secrets \u2014 the schematics of the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford<\/strong> to Egypt, officials said.<\/p>\n

Awwad, 36, of Yorktown, Virginia, plead guilty to charges of attempted espionage after meeting with undercover FBI agent who was posing as an Egyptian intelligence officer, authorities stated.<\/p>\n

\"USS<\/a>He is facing up to life in prison, but the plea agreement recommends that Awwad receive a sentence in the range of eight to 11 years, officials said. \u00a0He will be sentenced in September.<\/p>\n

\u201cAwwad pleaded guilty to leveraging his position of trust within the Navy to share the schematics of the USS Gerald R. Ford nuclear aircraft carrier with what he believed to be a foreign government,\u201d said Assistant Attorney General John P. Carlin.<\/strong> \u201cThe National Security Division will continue to pursue and bring to justice those who abuse their access to sensitive defense information. I would like to thank all of the special agents, prosecutors and other personnel whose work led to the guilty plea in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis case underscores the persistent national security threat posed by insiders stealing critical national defense information in order to benefit foreign governments,\u201d Assistant Director Randall C. Coleman of the FBI\u2019s Counterintelligence Division<\/strong> \u00a0\u201cFortunately, the aggressive counterintelligence posture of the FBI and our interagency partners enabled the identification and neutralization of Awwad\u2019s efforts before he transferred any information to a foreign power. Working together, we prevented the loss of billions of dollars in research costs and the exposure of potential vulnerabilities to our newest generation of nuclear aircraft carrier.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to court documents, this is how Awwad was nabbed:<\/strong><\/p>\n