An Indian-American engineer formerly employed with Northrop Corporation has been arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for allegedly passing top-secret military technology to foreign governments or their representatives.
Noshir S Gowadia, who was an engineer with Northrop between 1968 and 1986 when the company was involved in the design and manufacture of the B-2 Spirit Bomber, was arrested on October 26 from Haiku, Hawaii, where he has been living for the past six years. He was being held without bail after the FBI filed an affidavit in the US District Court in Maui, Hawaii.
According to the affidavit, Gowadia, 61, allegedly disclosed information related to the national defense to a person not entitled to receive it. The FBI alleged that on October 23, 2002, Gowadia faxed a document containing details for developing infrared technology for a foreign military aircraft to a foreign official to country "A".
It also charged that Gowadia also "communicated or otherwise delivered" classified government information to foreign governments or their representatives, specially to "Country B and Country C."
Gowadia is said to have "marketed himself to foreign military entities and other foreign persons and disclosed US military technology secrets related to the B-2 " to foreign governments to assist them in getting a higher level of technology.
"Investigation has also revealed that Gowadia has been rewarded financially for his efforts," the complaint said.
Charles L Goodwin, special agent in charge of the FBI at Honolulu would not identify the countries by name. "We are not giving any further information at this stage," Goodwin told rediff.com over phone from Honolulu.
