United States authorities arrested an American engineer on Tuesday on suspicion of giving secrets on nuclear weapons, fighter jets and air defence missiles to Israel during the 1980s, the Justice Department said.
Ben-Ami Kadish, a Connecticut-born US citizen who worked at an army engineering centre in New Jersey, was suspected of reporting to the same Israeli government handler as Jonathan Jay Pollard, who is serving a life term on a charge of spying for Israel.
Court papers say Kadish’s spying lasted roughly from 1979 to 1985, and his contact with the unidentified Israeli handler continued until March of this year.
Kadish was arrested in New Jersey and was scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday afternoon at the US District Court in Manhattan, authorities said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli government but a senior Israeli defence official said: ”I find it hard to believe that, after the Pollard affair, we would recruit an American spy.”
Pollard pleaded guilty in 1986.
A Justice Department official said Kadish did not appear to receive any money in exchange for his suspected spying. — Reuters