Defendant Attempted to Pass Navy Supercarrier Schematics to
Egypt
Mostafa Ahmed Awwad, 36, of Yorktown, Virginia, pleaded
guilty today to charges of attempted espionage relating to his attempt to
provide schematics of the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to Egypt
while serving as a Navy engineer.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S.
Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia, Assistant Director
Randall C. Coleman of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division and Special Agent
in Charge Susan Triesch of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS)
Norfolk, Virginia, Field Office made the announcement.
“Awwad 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,” said
Assistant Attorney General Carlin. “The
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.”
“Today, Mr. Awwad is being held responsible for attempting
to steal the valuable plans for the USS Ford and to provide them to a foreign
government,” said U.S. Attorney Boente.
“This office is committed to safeguarding our nation’s sensitive defense
information, and we will bring to justice those who seek to steal it. I want to commend our partners at the FBI
Norfolk and NCIS Norfolk for their excellent work on this case.”
“This case underscores the persistent national security
threat posed by insiders stealing critical national defense information in
order to benefit foreign governments,” said Assistant Director Coleman. “Fortunately, the aggressive counterintelligence
posture of the FBI and our interagency partners enabled the identification and
neutralization of Awwad’s 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.”
“This case demonstrates that NCIS aggressively pursues
anyone who would endanger our national security by targeting critical platforms
like the Ford class carrier,” said Special Agent in Charge Triesch. “The close collaboration between NCIS and the
FBI thwarted this insider threat and we will continue cooperative efforts to
safeguard those who protect and serve in the Department of the Navy.”
According to court documents, Awwad began working for the
Department of the Navy in February 2014 as a civilian general engineer in the
Nuclear Engineering and Planning Department at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Based on a joint investigation, an undercover
FBI agent contacted Awwad by telephone on Sept. 18, 2014, and asked to meet him
the following day. Without seeking
additional information from the caller, Awwad agreed. The next day, Awwad met with the undercover
FBI agent, who was posing as an Egyptian intelligence officer, in a park in
Hampton, Virginia. During the meeting,
Awwad claimed it was his intention to utilize his position with the U.S. Navy
to obtain military technology for use by the Egyptian government, including but
not limited to the designs of the USS Gerald R. Ford nuclear aircraft carrier,
a new Navy “supercarrier.” Awwad agreed
to conduct clandestine communications with the undercover FBI agent, and to
conduct “dead drops” in a concealed location in the park.
On Oct. 9, 2014, Awwad and the undercover FBI agent met at a
hotel where Awwad described a detailed plan to circumvent U.S. Navy computer
security by installing software on his restricted computer system that would
enable him to copy documents without causing a security alert. At this time, Awwad also provided the
undercover FBI agent with four Computer Aided Drawings of a U.S. nuclear
aircraft carrier downloaded from the Navy Nuclear Propulsion Information
system. During the discussion, Awwad indicated
his understanding that the drawings would be sent to and used in Egypt. Awwad also asked the undercover FBI agent for
$1,500 to purchase a pinhole camera that he would wear around the shipyard to
photograph restricted material. At the
conclusion of the meeting, Awwad agreed to provide the undercover FBI agent
with passport photos which would be used to produce a fraudulent Egyptian
passport so that Awwad could travel to Egypt without alerting U.S. government
officials.
On Oct. 23, 2014, Awwad traveled to the pre-arranged dead
drop site situated on a secluded hiking trail and utilized a concealed
container disguised in a hole in the ground.
He retrieved $3,000 before placing an external hard drive and two
passport photos inside.
On Dec. 5, 2014, Awwad and the undercover agent met in the
Hampton Roads, Virginia, area. During
this meeting, Awwad stated that he planned to travel to Egypt. Awwad subsequently said he wanted to meet
with “high ranking” Egyptian intelligence and military officials in Cairo. Awwad also stated during the meeting that he
had copied all of the schematics. During
the meeting, Awwad provided the undercover FBI agent a thumb drive that
contained more schematics of the USS Gerald R. Ford. The undercover FBI agent handed Awwad the
“escape plan” – in actuality a manila envelope with no real plan inside – along
with $1,000 in currency, shortly before Awwad was arrested.
The schematics of the USS Gerald R. Ford that Awwad provided
are information related to the national defense of the United States. The USS Gerald R. Ford, which is currently
under construction, is the first in a new class of aircraft carriers. When completed, the USS Ford will be the most
advanced aircraft carrier in the world, with approximately 4,000 sailors on
board. The schematics contain Naval
Nuclear Propulsion Information and they are marked with the handling
restriction “NOFORN,” which means they are not releasable to foreign persons.
Awwad pleaded guilty to a criminal information charging him
with attempted espionage, and his plea was accepted by U.S. District Court
Judge Raymond A. Jackson of the Eastern District of Virginia. He will be sentenced on Sept. 21, 2015. The maximum penalty for this offense is life in
prison, but the plea agreement recommends that Awwad receive a sentence in the
range of eight to 11 years. The maximum
statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for
informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined
by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory
factors.
This case was investigated by the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office
and NCIS, in cooperation with the Department of the Navy. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant
U.S. Attorneys Benjamin L. Hatch and Joseph E. DePadilla of the Eastern
District of Virginia, and Senior Trial Attorney Heather M. Schmidt of the
Justice Department’s National Security Division.
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