Did Obama DOJ Nix U.S. Weapons Tech Espionage Probe?

It appears that the Obama Justice Department killed—or at the very least intervened in—a potentially explosive espionage investigation involving the illegal transfer of American weapons technology to China and other foreign countries.

Those who get their news from the mainstream media would never know it, though the scandalous details have been reported in several aerospace trade publications as well as Washington D.C.’s conservative newspaper. Read about this unbelievable occurrence—and the administration’s apparent cover-up—at the nation’s space agency (National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA) here, here and here.

The story involves a large-scale federal probe into unauthorized foreign nationals, including Chinese engineers, getting access to protected U.S. space weapons technology that’s crucial to homeland security.  The secretive technology, handled at a San Francisco California NASA facility, is reportedly capable of operating from space to defend the country against international ballistic missile attacks.

Among the technologies that are believed to have been leaked are designs for high-performance rocket engines, fuel and oxidizer tanks from an “ASAT” (anti-satellite weapon), guidance and terrain-mapping systems from the Tomahawk cruise missile and a radar altimeter from the F-35. The information comes from a whistleblower quoted in one of the aerospace publications monitoring the case.

After a lengthy FBI probe, federal prosecutors in the northern California district handling the matter sought indictments. This clearly indicates that there was sufficient evidence to criminally charge the parties involved in the breach. Instead, the federal prosecutor in charge of the case, assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Fry, was abruptly transferred and powerful forces at the Department of Justice (DOJ) reportedly ordered the case closed.

Fortunately, two senior members of Congress that serve on the committee that oversees and funds NASA have launched an investigation of their own. They’re pushing the Obama administration for answers and have formally requested that the DOJ Inspector General launch a probe, asserting that “political pressure” may have been a factor in dropping the charges.

In a letter to its watchdog the congressmen write that the DOJ denied the northern California U.S. Attorney’s request for permission to proceed with indictments. This happened “without explanation” and “despite the backing of both the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s office,” the letter says. The lawmakers also express concern that security safeguards have been ignored for years while “large numbers of foreign nationals” worked at the San Francisco NASA facility.