
Caltech professor claims Israeli spy infiltrated JPL - tacon
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/general-news/20141113/caltech-professor-claims-israeli-spy-infiltrated-jpl
======
salimmadjd
This is not surprising. Israel is the number-one allied country spying in
America [1]

The problem is that with so many Israeli supporters in either of the
administration [2] as well as in the FBI and on many campuses, any allegation
of spying by whistleblowers is reacted by extreme retaliations. This is why we
don't hear about it more often.

This is not a new issue [3] from Pollard [4] to Rosen [5], recently

[1] [http://www.businessinsider.com/israeli-spying-on-us-has-
reac...](http://www.businessinsider.com/israeli-spying-on-us-has-reached-
terrifying-levels-2014-5)

[2] [http://www.thenation.com/blog/spy-story-harman-saban-and-
aip...](http://www.thenation.com/blog/spy-story-harman-saban-and-aipac)

[3]
[http://archive.lewrockwell.com/ips/lobe122.html](http://archive.lewrockwell.com/ips/lobe122.html)

[4] [http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2014/0401/Who-is-
Jon...](http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2014/0401/Who-is-Jonathan-
Pollard-and-why-is-his-spy-case-inflammatory-video)

[5]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Franklin,_Rose...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Franklin,_Rosen,_and_Weissman)

edited: typo

~~~
ChrisGaudreau
It is amazing just how much Israel spies on America, and how nobody knows
about it. If you dare to say it publicly then your reputation and career are
destroyed, and you are an antisemitic terrorist sympathizer, if not also a
terrorist.

~~~
jcampbell1
Israel spies on America, America tapped Angela Merkel's phone. The job of
spies is to know the internal thinking of the current administration.

Spying, tapping, hacking, etc are not acts of war. In fact, they probably
prevent more conflict than they could possibly ever cause.

Had we listened to Israeli spies, we would have never gone to war with Iraq
over WMDs. Spies save lives.

~~~
ak39
Except for the very same Israeli Mosad spies who knew much more about 9/11
before it happened. That could have saved many many lives indeed.

------
mturmon
The legal filing has (much) more --

[http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/wp-
content/uploads/201...](http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/11/2014-11-14-Troian-v.-Caltech-Complaint.pdf)

I found one surprising thing in the complaint. If a JPL supervisor was told
about an ITAR violation, there would be an immediate investigation with 100%
certainty. It would be a matter of hours, not months as is alleged.

There are two workplace rule violations you can go to jail for, ITAR and time
card fraud -- these are criminal, not civil, matters. So the complaint is
making extremely serious accusations.

------
confluence
Man you should've seen the stuff the Israeli's pulled back in the 1980s.

> _Speculation about Milchan 's involvement in arms dealing and intelligence
> activities was sparked after the indictment in 1985 of Dr. Richard Kelly
> Smyth, an aerospace executive and scientist who had made illegal shipments
> of Krytrons (nuclear triggers) through one of Milchan's companies._

...

> _" at least through the mid-1980s [Milchan] was a full-fledged operative for
> Israel’s top-secret intelligence agency, Lakam. His activities included
> "buying components to build and maintain Israel’s nuclear arsenal" and
> supervising "government-backed accounts and front companies that financed
> the special needs of the entirety of Israel’s intelligence operations
> outside the country.". Interviewed regarding Milchan's intelligence
> activities, Israeli President Shimon Peres stated: "Arnon is a special man.
> It was I who recruited him.... When I was at the Ministry of Defense, Arnon
> was involved in numerous defense-related procurement activities and
> intelligence operations. His strength is in making connections at the
> highest levels.... His activities gave us a huge advantage, strategically,
> diplomatically and technologically."_

\--
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnon_Milchan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnon_Milchan)

He's a multi-billionaire Hollywood producer nowadays (Argo, Fight Club, etc.)

Ah the windfalls of state backing.

------
lisper
As someone who used to work at JPL I find this story hard to swallow. It's not
that it's unlikely that an Israeli spy could get a job at JPL. That I don't
doubt. (In fact, I'd be surprised if it hasn't happened.) What I find doubtful
is that anyone could find out about it. Information security at JPL is not
very tight. It's not the NSA. You'd have to be the world's most incompetent
spy to let yourself be discovered by a colleague at JPL.

------
edwinkite
The article quotes Prof. Troian as saying, "JPL acted honorably throughout.
They did the right thing and filed the right report. That part of the system
worked well. ... My complaint is strictly with Caltech."

There's tension between the openness that a research university (Caltech)
needs, and the secure handling of information that a lab doing some classified
research (JPL) requires.

This tension exploded in 1952, when Caltech took government money for PROJECT
VISTA. After that, Caltech decided that having faculty working on things they
couldn't talk about was antithetical to the purpose of a research university
[1]. Today, Caltech says [2]:

"The Caltech Way: Caltech policy does not allow the acceptance of grants or
contracts supporting the conduct of classified research or other classified
projects on campus. Exceptions to this restriction may be considered by the
President of Caltech in times of national emergency or critical need upon an
urgent request of the government." ("Standards of Conduct for Research on
Campus," Chapter 1, Section 1.1).

At JPL, there has always been some classified research. In the 1980s, JPL
almost become a weapons lab (it did not) [3].

Even if Dr. Gat's electrospray work wasn't classified, one can imagine how
different attitudes to classified research feed over to different attitudes to
ITAR violations.

I'm a former Caltech postdoc and a research associate at JPL. I know neither
Gat nor Troian.

[1] [http://www.patrickmccray.com/wp/wp-
content/uploads/2012/12/2...](http://www.patrickmccray.com/wp/wp-
content/uploads/2012/12/2004-McCray-Vista-Paper.pdf) [2]
[http://researchadministration.caltech.edu/theguide/tableofco...](http://researchadministration.caltech.edu/theguide/tableofcontents/ch1#1.1)
[3] "Into the Black": [http://www.amazon.com/Into-Black-American-
Program-1976-2004/...](http://www.amazon.com/Into-Black-American-
Program-1976-2004/dp/0300184190)

~~~
colordrops
I haven't figured out your conclusion. I think you are giving credit to
Caltech for supporting Dr. Gat's "openness" with Israel? Does that excuse Dr.
Gat hacking into Dr. Troian's computer, or the Caltech administration's
apparently dishonest and sinister behavior towards Dr. Troian?

------
gaoshan
My sister works for one of the intelligence agencies and says that the two
biggest threats, from an intel perspective, are China and Israel.

~~~
WorldWideWayne
You should ask her what she thinks about the possibility that China is an
asset controlled by a higher power, considering the fact that Mao Zedong was a
Yale man and that ever since he was installed, every US ambassador to China
has been a Skull and Bones member -
[https://www.google.com/search?q=mao+zedong+yale+school+of+di...](https://www.google.com/search?q=mao+zedong+yale+school+of+divinity)

~~~
gaoshan
No point in asking her that as she is mentally stable.

~~~
WorldWideWayne
So, it's a proven fact that the Yale School of Divinity exists. It's proven
that Mao Zedong was a student there. It's proven that Skull and Bones exists
and it's proven that Mao was a member and that each ambassador to China since
Mao has also been a member.

Did you not read anything about the subject before commenting? Ever heard of
the Opium Wars? You act as if it's unthinkable that a small group of powerful
people could take control of an entire nation and cause so much trouble.

What point did you disagree on? Or, were you just going to stick with your
feeble ad-hominem attack on me?

------
tacon
“JPL is the cornerstone of Caltech’s financial security,” Stormer said. “It
makes them one of the foremost research institutions in the world. Without it,
Caltech is just a backwater institution with very bright people. They could
not get the people here that they have without the access to the research
facilities at JPL. It is what makes Caltech Caltech.”

I don't know about the merits of the case, but this kind of wild statement is
embarrassing. JPL is lucky to have Caltech close at hand, not the other way
around.

~~~
mturmon
It's a symbiotic relationship. Her lawyer's statement is crazy, but there is a
nugget of fact there. JPL is much larger than Caltech, both in terms of budget
and personnel.
([http://www.caltech.edu/content/glance](http://www.caltech.edu/content/glance)).
I assume that is what his statement is getting at.

~~~
001sky
Employees (1)

    
    
        JPL: 5,000
        Caltech: 3,900
    

Budget

    
    
        JPL: $1.5 billion
        Campus: $580 million

------
GabrielF00
It's worth pointing out that this is one person's allegation and that it is
being made in the context of a retaliation complaint against an employer. Some
of what is in the complaint doesn't make a lot of sense, for instance, if
someone was actively engaged in espionage, why would they post restricted
technical information to a public website 65 times?

~~~
Pinckney
The allegation that Dr. Gat was a spy seems to be sensationalism on the part
of the Pasadena Star. One doesn't need to be a spy to violate ITAR.

The most substantial allegations against Dr. Gat are that he shared data with
his adviser. It's quite easy to imagine a young researcher viewing ITAR as a
dumb American law which inhibits collaboration, and deciding to continue
sharing preprints and collaborating with colleagues abroad as though he were
still in Israel. And why not? He doesn't seem to have been working on a
project with obvious military potential, and is from an allied country. ITAR
prosecutions against professors are extremely rare.

------
flyinglizard
I doubt Israel would use an actual Israeli for espionage.

