After a former defense contractor was busted selling sensitive military blueprints to foreign actors, the Obama administration opted not to pursue Espionage Act charges, despite its frequent use of the law against whistleblowers
On Wednesday, Hannah Robert, formerly the owner of two New Jersey contracting firms, pleaded guilty to charges of violating the Arms Export Control Act after feds discovered she had exported secret military documents to India and beyond.
Mostly drawings, they included details about “parts used in the torpedo systems for nuclear submarines, military attack helicopters and F-15 fighter aircrafts.”
According to court documents, Robert operated a firm in India specializing in the manufacture of defense hardware to foreign governments. There, in 2010, and without the approval of the State Department, she sent “export-controlled technical data” to an associate in India who used the information to submit bids for defense contracts to foreign governments, including the United Arab Emirates.
The blueprints were transmitted to India through a password-protected New Jersey church website. A part time systems administrator for the church, Robert sent her contact in India sign-in information, allowing him to access and download the secret documents. Investigators say church staff had no knowledge of the scheme.
In a press release issued on Thursday, the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, John Carlin, vowed to “continue to pursue and hold accountable those who abuse their access to sensitive defense information.”
In addition to violating the Arms Export Control Act, Robert was found to have misled the Department of Defense on a manufacturing contract for F-15 wing parts. She presented “false and misleading material certifications and inspection reports for the parts,” according to the DOJ. The dodgy info resulted in the parts failing, federal prosecutors said, and the department grounding 47 jets for inspection and repair.
As part of her guilty plea on Wednesday, Robert agreed to pay the government more than $181,000 to cover the cost of the F-15 fleet grounding, plus nearly $80,000—the total cost of the contract with the defense department.
Under President Obama, the Justice Department ’s pursuit of other, less technical leaks has not been as muted, as former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, former Pfc. Chelsea Manning, ex-CIA agent John Kiriakou, and former State Department analyst Stephen Kim and others can attest.
While Robert was charged with one count of violating the Arms Export Control Act—a crime that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000—other leakers who merely wanted to inform the public of government malfeasance were dogged by the department with possible Espionage Act indictments; a statute that, if violated, carries maximum penalties of decades in jail and even capital punishment.
Although Manning and Kiriakou were eventually charged and sentenced under lesser crimes, Snowden continues to face punishment under the 1917 Espionage Act—a law that has been used more times by the Obama administration, entirely to prosecute government leakers and whistleblowers, than any other administration in history.
Snowden has cited the heavy-handed charges, which do not afford defendants the ability to make a case on grounds of conscience, as the reason why he won’t receive a fair trial should he return to the United States.
