Noshir Gowadia
Encyclopedia
Noshir Sheriarji Gowadia, born in Bombay, India
in 1944 is an Indian American
design engineer
of Parsi
descent. One of the creators of the B-2 Spirit
stealth bomber during a career at Northrop
, he was arrest
ed in 2005 on espionage
-related federal
charges. On August 9, 2010, he was convicted in the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii
on 14 of the 17 charges against him.
The U.S. government
had accused Gowadia of selling classified information
to the government of the People's Republic of China
and sending classified information to individuals in Germany
, Israel
, and Switzerland
.
. He emigrated to the United States
and is now a naturalized
U.S. citizen
. He joined Northrop
in November 1968, and continued to work there until April 1986. As a design engineer, Gowadia was reportedly one of the principal designers of the B-2 Spirit
stealth bomber, who conceived and conceptually designed the B-2 Bomber's entire propulsion
system and billed himself as the "father of the technology that protects the B-2 stealth bomber from heat-seeking missiles
." In 1999, he founded N.S. Gowadia, Inc., his own consulting
company.
was searched. Later the same month, he was arrested, and charged with giving secret defense information to unauthorized parties. According to prosecutors, the information mostly related to the B-2 project, and at least eight foreign countries were shown documents relating to the B-2's stealth technology. In an affidavit
, Gowadia admitted to transmitting classified information, and stated that he did so "to establish the technological credibility with the potential customers for future business." Gowadia was held without bail
after his arrest.
On October 26, 2005, Gowadia was arrested and charged with one count of "willfully communicating delivering or transmitting national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it, which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation" in the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii
.
On November 8, 2006, a federal grand jury
in Honolulu returned an 18-count superseding indictment
against Gowadia. According to a press release from the Department of Justice
:
Gowadia was also charged with helping to design stealth technology for Chinese missiles, and with money laundering
.
for a security background check to allow him to use classified information
as evidence
at the trial. It was later reported that the trial had been postponed until October 2008, and then again postponed until January 21, 2009. A trial date for May 5, 2009 was delayed in order to assess if Gowadia was fit to stand trial on mental health grounds.
In November 2009, defense counsel psychology experts tried to establish that Gowadia suffers from narcissistic personality disorder
but U.S. Magistrate Kevin S.C. Chang said in a ruling issued late Friday, November 20, that the testimony of the two defense witnesses - Richard Rogers, a forensic psychology professor at the University of North Texas, and Dr. Pablo Stewart, a psychiatry professor at the University of California, San Francisco - was not credible. The defendant's unwillingness to thoroughly consult with his lawyers does not equate with an inability to do so, Chang said. That challenging relationship between the defendant and his lawyers cannot and does not provide the basis to find the defendant incompetent, Chang added. Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway can accept or reject Chang's recommendation.
A trial was held in 2010. Open statements began on April 12, 2010. The trial included 39 days of often technical testimony and lasted nearly four months. Closing argument
s took place on July 29, 2010. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson represented the government in the case, and defense attorney David Klein represented Gowadia. The jury deliberated for five and a half days before returning a guilty verdict on August 10, 2010. Sorenson, the prosecutor, later won the J. Michael Bradford Award of the National Association of Former United States Attorneys for his work in the case.
Although sentencing was set for November 22, 2010, and though Gowadia could have faced a sentence
of life in prison
. on January 24, 2011, he was sentenced to 32 years in prison.
Gowadia is currently incarcerated in the ADX Florence
, with a release date of September 11, 2033.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in 1944 is an Indian American
Indian American
Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...
design engineer
Design engineer
Design Engineer is a general term that covers multiple engineering disciplines including electrical, mechanical, industrial design and civil engineering, architectural engineers in the U.S...
of Parsi
Parsi
Parsi or Parsee refers to a member of the larger of the two Zoroastrian communities in South Asia, the other being the Irani community....
descent. One of the creators of the B-2 Spirit
B-2 Spirit
The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit is an American heavy bomber with low observable stealth technology designed to penetrate dense anti-aircraft defenses and deploy both conventional and nuclear weapons. The bomber has a crew of two and can drop up to eighty -class JDAM GPS-guided bombs, or sixteen ...
stealth bomber during a career at Northrop
Northrop Corporation
Northrop Corporation was a leading United States aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1939 until its merger with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman in 1994. The company is known for its development of the flying wing design, although only a few of these have entered service.-History:Jack...
, he was arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
ed in 2005 on espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
-related federal
Federal crime
In the United States, a federal crime or federal offense is a crime that is made illegal by U.S. federal legislation. In the United States, criminal law and prosecution happen at both the federal and the state levels; thus a “federal crime” is one that is prosecuted under federal criminal law, and...
charges. On August 9, 2010, he was convicted in the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii
United States District Court for the District of Hawaii
The United States District Court for the District of Hawaii is the principal trial court of the United States Federal Court System in the state of Hawaii. It is located at the Prince Kuhio Federal Building in downtown Honolulu, fronting the Aloha Tower and Honolulu Harbor. The court hears both...
on 14 of the 17 charges against him.
The U.S. government
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...
had accused Gowadia of selling classified information
Classified information in the United States
The United States government classification system is currently established under Executive Order 13526, the latest in a long series of executive orders on the topic. Issued by President Barack Obama in 2009, Executive Order 13526 replaced earlier executive orders on the topic and modified the...
to the government of the People's Republic of China
Government of the People's Republic of China
All power within the government of the People's Republic of China is divided among three bodies: the People's Republic of China, State Council, and the People's Liberation Army . This article is concerned with the formal structure of the state, its departments and their responsibilities...
and sending classified information to individuals in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
Early career
Gowadia was born in IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. He emigrated to the United States
Immigration to the United States
Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants,...
and is now a naturalized
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
U.S. citizen
United States nationality law
Article I, section 8, clause 4 of the United States Constitution expressly gives the United States Congress the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization. The Immigration and Naturalization Act sets forth the legal requirements for the acquisition of, and divestiture from, citizenship of...
. He joined Northrop
Northrop Corporation
Northrop Corporation was a leading United States aircraft manufacturer from its formation in 1939 until its merger with Grumman to form Northrop Grumman in 1994. The company is known for its development of the flying wing design, although only a few of these have entered service.-History:Jack...
in November 1968, and continued to work there until April 1986. As a design engineer, Gowadia was reportedly one of the principal designers of the B-2 Spirit
B-2 Spirit
The Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit is an American heavy bomber with low observable stealth technology designed to penetrate dense anti-aircraft defenses and deploy both conventional and nuclear weapons. The bomber has a crew of two and can drop up to eighty -class JDAM GPS-guided bombs, or sixteen ...
stealth bomber, who conceived and conceptually designed the B-2 Bomber's entire propulsion
Air propulsion
Air propulsion is the generation of thrust during flight by an aircraft or a creature such as a bird, bat or insect.-Aircraft:An aircraft propulsion system must serve two purposes. First, the thrust from the propulsion system must balance the drag of the airplane when the airplane is cruising...
system and billed himself as the "father of the technology that protects the B-2 stealth bomber from heat-seeking missiles
Infrared homing
Infrared homing refers to a passive missile guidance system which uses the emission from a target of electromagnetic radiation in the infrared part of the spectrum to track and follow it. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers", since infrared is just below the...
." In 1999, he founded N.S. Gowadia, Inc., his own consulting
Consultant
A consultant is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, accountancy, the environment, entertainment, technology, law , human resources, marketing, emergency management, food production, medicine, finance, life management, economics, public...
company.
Arrest on espionage-related charges
In October 2005, he was interviewed twice by the authorities, and his multi-million dollar home in HawaiiHawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
was searched. Later the same month, he was arrested, and charged with giving secret defense information to unauthorized parties. According to prosecutors, the information mostly related to the B-2 project, and at least eight foreign countries were shown documents relating to the B-2's stealth technology. In an affidavit
Affidavit
An affidavit is a written sworn statement of fact voluntarily made by an affiant or deponent under an oath or affirmation administered by a person authorized to do so by law. Such statement is witnessed as to the authenticity of the affiant's signature by a taker of oaths, such as a notary public...
, Gowadia admitted to transmitting classified information, and stated that he did so "to establish the technological credibility with the potential customers for future business." Gowadia was held without bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
after his arrest.
On October 26, 2005, Gowadia was arrested and charged with one count of "willfully communicating delivering or transmitting national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it, which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation" in the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii
United States District Court for the District of Hawaii
The United States District Court for the District of Hawaii is the principal trial court of the United States Federal Court System in the state of Hawaii. It is located at the Prince Kuhio Federal Building in downtown Honolulu, fronting the Aloha Tower and Honolulu Harbor. The court hears both...
.
On November 8, 2006, a federal grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
in Honolulu returned an 18-count superseding indictment
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...
against Gowadia. According to a press release from the Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
:
Gowadia was also charged with helping to design stealth technology for Chinese missiles, and with money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
.
Trial
Gowadia's trial was scheduled for July 10, 2007 but received a continuance until February 12, 2008, because Gowadia's new counsel had to be investigated by the United States Department of JusticeUnited States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
for a security background check to allow him to use classified information
Classified information
Classified information is sensitive information to which access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of persons. A formal security clearance is required to handle classified documents or access classified data. The clearance process requires a satisfactory background investigation...
as evidence
Evidence
Evidence in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either presumed to be true, or were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion's truth...
at the trial. It was later reported that the trial had been postponed until October 2008, and then again postponed until January 21, 2009. A trial date for May 5, 2009 was delayed in order to assess if Gowadia was fit to stand trial on mental health grounds.
In November 2009, defense counsel psychology experts tried to establish that Gowadia suffers from narcissistic personality disorder
Narcissistic personality disorder
Narcissistic personality disorder is a personality disorder in which the individual is described as being excessively preoccupied with issues of personal adequacy, power, prestige and vanity...
but U.S. Magistrate Kevin S.C. Chang said in a ruling issued late Friday, November 20, that the testimony of the two defense witnesses - Richard Rogers, a forensic psychology professor at the University of North Texas, and Dr. Pablo Stewart, a psychiatry professor at the University of California, San Francisco - was not credible. The defendant's unwillingness to thoroughly consult with his lawyers does not equate with an inability to do so, Chang said. That challenging relationship between the defendant and his lawyers cannot and does not provide the basis to find the defendant incompetent, Chang added. Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway can accept or reject Chang's recommendation.
A trial was held in 2010. Open statements began on April 12, 2010. The trial included 39 days of often technical testimony and lasted nearly four months. Closing argument
Closing argument
A closing argument, summation, or summing up is the concluding statement of each party's counsel reiterating the important arguments for the trier of fact, often the jury, in a court case. A closing argument occurs after the presentation of evidence...
s took place on July 29, 2010. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson represented the government in the case, and defense attorney David Klein represented Gowadia. The jury deliberated for five and a half days before returning a guilty verdict on August 10, 2010. Sorenson, the prosecutor, later won the J. Michael Bradford Award of the National Association of Former United States Attorneys for his work in the case.
Although sentencing was set for November 22, 2010, and though Gowadia could have faced a sentence
Sentence (law)
In law, a sentence forms the final explicit act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. The sentence can generally involve a decree of imprisonment, a fine and/or other punishments against a defendant convicted of a crime...
of life in prison
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
. on January 24, 2011, he was sentenced to 32 years in prison.
Gowadia is currently incarcerated in the ADX Florence
ADX Florence
The United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility is a supermax prison for men that is located in unincorporated Fremont County, Colorado, United States, south of Florence. It is unofficially known as ADX Florence, Florence ADMAX, Supermax, or The Alcatraz of the Rockies...
, with a release date of September 11, 2033.
See also
- William KampilesWilliam KampilesWilliam Peter Kampiles was a Central Intelligence Agency employee during the Cold War.-Biography:Bored with his low-ranking status as a CIA clerk, in 1977, he stole a top-secret KH-11 spy satellite manual. Afterwards, he resigned from his job, flew to Greece, and sold the manual to the Russian...
- a CIA clerk who sold a KH-11KH-11The KH-11 KENNAN, renamed CRYSTAL in 1982 and also referenced by the codenames 1010, and "Key Hole", is a type of reconnaissance satellite launched by the American National Reconnaissance Office since December 1976...
spy satellite manual to Russia - Robert HanssenRobert HanssenRobert Philip Hanssen is a former American FBI agent who spied for Soviet and Russian intelligence services against the United States for 22 years from 1979 to 2001...
- an FBI agent who sold classified information to Russia - Aldrich AmesAldrich AmesAldrich Hazen Ames is a former Central Intelligence Agency counter-intelligence officer and analyst, who, in 1994, was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and Russia...
- a CIA agent who sold classified information to Russia