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Professor Gets 4 Years in Prison for Sharing Drone Plans With Students
Hugh Pickens writes "Retired University of Tennessee Professor Dr. John Reece Roth has been sentenced to four years in prison after he allowed a Chinese graduate student to see sensitive information on Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones. In 2004, the company Roth helped found, Atmospheric Glow Technologies, won a US Air Force contract to develop a plasma actuator that could help reduce drag on the wings of drones, such as the ones the military uses. Under the contract, for which Roth was reportedly paid $6,000, he was prohibited from sharing sensitive data with foreign nationals. Despite warnings from his university's Export Control Officer, in 2006, Roth took a laptop containing sensitive plans with him on a lecture tour in China and also allowed graduate students Xin Dai of China and Sirous Nourgostar of Iran to work on the project. 'The illegal export of restricted military data represents a serious threat to national security,' says David Kris of the US Department of Justice. 'We know that foreign governments are actively seeking this information for their own military development. Today's sentence should serve as a warning to anyone who knowingly discloses restricted military data in violation of our laws.' During his trial, Roth testified that he was unaware that hiring the graduate students was a violation of his contract. 'This whole thing has not helped me, it has not helped the university,' said Roth. 'And it has probably not helped this country, either.'"
Why not go ahead and sentence the students for "trying to steal" sensitive date from the USAF?
Real men read Slashdot articles at -1, bottom up.
droned on and on too but I wouldn't send them to prison for it!
He knew he wasn't supposed to do it, he was warned not to do it, he did it anyway. He pled guilty.
If he didn't read his contract that's his problem. I also find it very unlikely.
Why is this on slashdot?
I had no idea that the US Military would get pissed if I shared details about how to build flying robots with people from Iran and China! I swear it!
Best Slashdot comment ever
Should have been 40 years, idiot. Just bringing the laptop to China is shear stupidity.
a search at Google Scholar reveals some interesting information.
I hope this helps Slashdot readers build their own open source drones.
Yours In Flight (preferably Stealthy),
Philboyd Studge
Let's see, he signed a contract saying he was prohibited from sharing sensitive data with foreign nationals, then he shared it with forign nationals. Now he says "he was unaware that hiring the graduate students (to do work in the project) was a violation of his contract"? He's either too stupid to be a professor, or he's lying.
Have fun in prison bub.
Still, I've never done anything for the military and I still wouldn't give secrets to the Chinese and Iranians. Not unless I got a free holiday out of it, or maybe some beers.
You can't work on a top-secret project without signing very serious agreements with Uncle Sam. It just doesn't happen. Therefore he knew damned well he wasn't allowed to share this information, but did so anyway. What the fuck did he expect? What the fuck would *you* expect? If you expected to get away with something like that without consequence, you're a fucking moron.
I know he was stupid to do this, however, I was not aware how much of a cornerstone UAVs are to our current military strategy.
I thought they were mainly for recon, I never realized that they can hold a pretty impressive arsenal.
UAVs at Wiki, They are pretty damn cool. I could see why they would get upset about leaked technology as opposed to, say, encryption.
and Sirous Nourgostar of Iran to work
Did George Lucas get offspring in Iran or something?
If you quote this signature there'll be 72 copies of Windows ME waiting for you in Heaven.
I'm not entirely surprised by either the sentence, or the seeming lack of security consciousness on the part of the professor and possibly his school. When working on defense-related work it's always best to treat sensitive material with the respect it deserves - in many cases there's no need to go overboard with encryption, physical security, or whatnot, but reasonable measures (e.g., not bringing the Goddamned laptop overseas) should always be taken.
However, from what I heard, the project Dr. Roth was working on wasn't entirely black-ops sort of stuff - he was merely integrating technology previously developed by himself (and others) under funding not remotely related to defense.
"This whole thing has not helped me ... And it has probably not helped this country, either."
Interesting that his indignation stems from the feeling that everything should serve to help him. And his country comes second. It suggests that his personal welfare is at the top of his priorities.
I have no reason to believe these particular two students would report this sensitive information to their government. But the man signed a contract with the government stating he would abide by their rules of confidentiality. Then he shares the sensitive information with nationals from two specific countries the U.S. probably has no interest in sharing secrets with. It sounds like he went out of his way to be a scumbag, and 4 years is letting him off light in my opinion.
"Openness", both ideologically and in the FOSS sense, forms one of the core requirements of successful academia.
I don't blame or absolve the professor - He had a contract, and I suppose the legal details of this boil down to a matter of contract law (though I most certainly do have a problem with prison time rather than monetary damages for breach of contract). But I do blame both his university and the government itself.
I blame the university for undermining any sense of credibility by selling out to the highest bidder at the expense of discrimination against an arbitrary list of students - Students who paid the same tuition as every other student, yet cannot experience the same intellectual freedoms as their peers all because some magic list-of-the-week says their Fearless Leader (whom in many cases they came to the US because they don't like the policies or education climate back home) pissed in our Cheerios.
And I blame the government for foisting their homework onto a domain that largely considers secrecy either beneath consideration or outright contemptible. Don't want foreign students to have access to military projects? Simple - Give those projects to standard military-industrial contractors familiar with paranoid levels of obfuscation and mistrust such as Lockheed, Grumman, Boeing or the like. And if they do decide to tap academia for parts of their research, I blame them for not taking care to prevent any one group from having "enough" information to do anything useful with.
You don't spank a baby for giggling at butterflies, and you don't hold it accountable if you give it a gun and someone gets hurt. Simple as that.
Forget the prison sentence, I want to learn about the "plasma actuator that could help reduce drag on the wings of drones". (This is a tech site, remember?) So, how do these work?
Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
I've posted the results of a Google Scholar search above.
Please don't show the results to Chinese nationals.
Yours In Socialism,
K. Trout
OK, so I'm in Canada, and everyone knows that Canadians are slackers when it comes to security (sarcasm for the humor challenged).
The prof had to be ignoring the rules deliberately. The paperwork I had to sign required the details of every student working on the project. They didn't have to be security cleared but they sure did have to be Canadian or American. There was no chance to skip over that clause in the contract; a security guy read it to me out loud and made damn sure I understood what it meant.
When you accept work that requires government clearance, you are subject to a number of rules regarding the export of technology and know-how that is of importance to National Security. You're probably told repeatedly about such things. Sorry, I don't want the Iranians making their own UAVs off our designs. Guy's an idiot for taking sensitive material overseas in his laptop in the first place. Military and Defense technology isn't something we should be "open" about when there's real regimes out there who don't believe in the same freedoms and basic human rights we take for granted. Crap like this is why we the Russians got the bomb, why the North Koreans have the bomb, etc... Why would you be in favor of these places that don't prize freedom or equality getting their hands on this stuff?
A big problem/bug/feature of American academic engineering research groups is that the graduate students and post-docs are predominantly foreign, typically from China and India. American citizens with advanced engineering degrees are a dying breed - Americans don't (in general) aspire to get PhDs in engineering.
So if you are soliciting proposals to American universities for defense-related research, be warned that whomever is doing the research (even if they themselves are citizens and cleared) are likely doing that research in a room full of foreign nationals.
...until I Googled "plamsa actuator" and found a relevant article ranked number one...
http://www.engr.uky.edu/~jdjacob/fml/research/plasma/index.html
...and a bunch of other good articles listed after it.
Does the DOD think they not have the Internet in China and Iran?
Just by reading this article, you can get a good sense of the concept, which has to do with creating high-speed, non-mechanical aircraft control surfaces via boundary layer manipulation. Is this really that big of a secret?
I'll post more on this after I investigate the thump on the roof and see who's at the front door.
A sigh of relief for unemployed professors as the University of Tennessee announces a new opening!
What the hell kind of contract with the DoD is only $6K?
The cost of a security clearance for one person is at least $40K.
Maybe it was one stage of a multi-stage contract, but with the way the news and prosecutors like to exaggerate everything you think they would have quoted the cost of the entire thing.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
The professor did the world a favor. Sharing defense technology means conflicting powers are on equal strength and are less likely to go to war.
The first time I obtained security clearance, we were all told that not only were we barred for life from talking about any classified data without permission, but that they would keep the physical piece of paper that we signed stating we understood all this for at least 75 years.
They want to preclude the possibility that you will EVER think about claiming you didn't know the restrictions.
SirWired
I am sure he has learned his lesson and will keep his mouth and other holes shut at Federal PMITA prison.
Take your sunglasses off Anonymous CowardON.
Your Criminals-IN-Congress are doing a much better job than China and Russia and/or the Soviet Union ever did.
It seems it's just another day in Dogville...
At the very least he should have received a life sentence. In reality he should have received the death penalty. This is straight up treason of the highest order. The guy was warned not to work on it with the students in question, not to mention he was warned not to take the laptop to china with the sensitive information on it. Some may feel like this is an over reaction but in reality its an under reaction.
IMAGE VERIFICATION IS EVIL!
"David Kris of the US Department of Justice. 'We know that foreign governments are actively seeking this information for their own military development. Today's sentence should serve as a warning to anyone who knowingly discloses restricted military data in violation of our laws.' " No shit. More like a massive kick in balls. This goof shoulda known better.
"If you want to know what happens to you when you die, go look at some dead stuff."
"he didn't plead guilty, that was a different party"
That's true, I'll grant you that. My fault for skim-reading.
"In his trial...he said he didn't think it was illegal (see below). (from the article and the summary, which apparently you either didn't read or comprehend)"
I read that. Sorry, I don't buy it. He's claiming ignorance, but there's no way that's true. It specifically states in the article that he took that laptop to China "despite warnings from his University's Export Control Officer". Even if he somehow missed the boat in the "what not to share" session that was undoubtely provided for him, he knew then. He's guilty.
Why are we even talking about this? The prof was either a complete idiot (and should put his Ph.D. back in the cereal box he got it from) or intentionally broke the law as some act of defiance. What is unclear? He knows he's working on a "secret" project used by the military. He probably got told 6 ways through Sunday he can't talk about it. And he goes to jail because he did what he was told to not do. To say he should not get jail time, or that he's from an academic world, defies logic and COMMON SENSE. Gee, this is a secret military project, I think I'll not only take the data/laptop to China, but I'll share it with Chinese and Iranian students. Gimme a break. It makes no sense. It's much more likely, IMHO, that he was giving a one-finger salute to the US. Even if he weren't, he's a moron, and ignorance of the law is not a valid defence.
... of all residence of the city Kennesaw. In other words you have to have a registered gun to live there.
It is also interesting to know that Kennesaw has the lowest crime rate in the country.
Aren't such drones used by the use in other countries more than they are at "Home"?
I think you don't quite grasp the exact nature of the problem. It is not that Americans aren't interested in getting advanced engineering degrees, it is rather, that there are 5 or more equally qualified foreign applicants for every opening and our tax-supported (and they all are, either directly or indirectly) institutions don't/won't/can't give American citizens preference. We simply can't get into our own schools.
I'm giving an open (public, anybody can attend) colloquium in a couple of months reviewing aerospace applications of a particular material. What I'm planning to present is all in the public domain, referenceable, etc. The colloquium organizer said I'd have to be sure I reviewed applicable ITAR restrictions. This ruling makes me concerned that if I say something like, "published results suggest that material X would be very helpful in solving problem Y in hypersonic flight", somebody in a suit and shades will get up from the back of the room and invite me to come with him for a friendly debriefing. Is it possible to be in violation of ITAR simply by mentioning a public result and suggesting its utility in a known aerospace problem?
ITAR restricted materials are basically equivalent to what you should be able to access at a reasonably well stocked public library. Its a bogus restriction enacted by Congress to make themselves feel better. Any US citizen can access it, and is somehow supposed to know that they can't share with them damn "furriners".
IMHO, a bigger problem is that some people think you need a PhD to do engineering research...
Since he seems to have been convicted under the EAR, which is a set of regulations having to do with rendering technical aid to foreigners, and not the ITAR, which is a set of regulations about exporting actual objects (such as munitions or rocket-control thingies), there is very close parsing required of the law to figure out what is Right or not.
After all, the material he distributed wasn't classified, and in principle the 1st Amendment to the U.S. constitution allows you to say whatever you want to whomever you want (provided that you aren't directly inciting a crime, or lying, or distributing classified information). It's especially interesting because most violations of the EAR never get to trial -- they are generally settled by defense contractors who are eager to make good so that the flow of federal dollars doesn't dry up -- so this is likely to be a strong legal precedent. In this case, as in so many, my guess is that he had the standard language in his federal contract -- essentially "I agree to abide by ITAR and EAR" -- so that the regulations can be enforced via contract law even if the ITAR and EAR are eventually found to be unconstitutional if applied to general citizens.
The most scary situation involving EAR/ITRAR is that I know of no legal precedent at all for the EAR in the case of a gifted, privately funded enthusiast just screwing around -- but it applies to many things that even hobbyists do now. If you take an interest in (say) cheap image stabilization systems or inertial guidance of vehicles, and share your work with some of your friends down at the rocket club (who happen to be exchange students from the Pacific Rim), the regulations say that you are liable for millions of dollars in fines and many years of jail time -- even though those technologies are well within the range of gifted college students today (and affordable for an enthusiast to tinker with). I have no idea what the outcome of such a case would be -- only that the legal bills would be immense and the hypothetical hobbyist's life would be put on hold for years, if the Feds decided to take an interest.
Since I actually bothered to read more than just the first link - Looks like he had already done research on plasma actuation, after which he decided to work on a government project using this technology, which seems to have cancerously made everything on the topic classified, and he honestly didn't feel this the right thing to happen. The contracts were probably worded such that this was the case (what is right versus how to hide as much information as possible, even if previously not used for military applications), so he was tried on this basis.
I'm surprised to see slashdoters' knee jerk reactions to this story. There's obviously a lot of technical details here that are missed.
"I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots." George HW Bush
If you're an academic you share information so that it may be publicly debated and tested. This helps to find good work and expose bad work. It's how science and technology move forward.
If you're a spook, you take tons of government money, keep everything secret, and milk even bad ideas for as long as you can because there's no public debate over what you do. You may or may not move science and technology forward, but it doesn't matter because it's all in the name of National Security [cue heavenly choir].
You can't be both. He shouldn't have tried to be both. An academic doing secret work is a fraud.
I piss off bigots.
But is there really anything wrong with that? It has been so since the beginning and will be so at the end. It is so written, and so it shall be.
(Latin monks chanting in harmony in the background)
Now, back to the world at war(s).
dead kommie. Nuke 'em, NUKE 'em NOW ././././
This story doesn't even state that there IS any 'classified' or secret information to disseminate. It doesn't say he gave foreign nationals 'Restricted' information, just that he possessed it when he went overseas. Does this mean that if he merely remembered his research, he should not be allowed to leave the country ? Realise that ITAR restricted information is pretty broad. Things like how a GPS or compass works, electronics, control systems, Steel formulas, almost any industrial process can be used for building arms. This all smells like fertilizer. ANFO.
There is no gun registration in Georgia. You are required to maintain a firearm in your home, but there is no registration or inspection regimen.
The purpose of language is communication, If the idea is clear the grammar ain't important
Yes! If you learned any of the info, or importance of public domain info, from a work experience at a place that has any confidential or higher level data. Then, any thing that you find in public domain and say it helps to solve some problem to anybody; then, you need export approval from ITAR person. Posted Anon because rating other posts. Tim S
The rules have changed. It is now illegal to "export" ITAR data, that is "sensitive" defense technology to foreign persons. However, this data is not classified. You can tell it to any and every US Person: your friends, family, neighbors, convenience store clerk. SO long as they are a US Person and also know not to tell it to Foreign National, they can know it.
However, telling it to a Canadian can get you sent to prison.
The rules have changed. And it's damaging to critical industries and research institutions.
ShoutingMan.com
And this is how ITAR is damaging to our national security. As the DOE and DOD are major funding agencies at universities and national labs, we are now creating a research system that prevents foreign nationals from participating. And since they are a large percentage of our grad students, that's a major problem. It subsequently makes the US a less enticing place for the skilled students we'd like to immigrate here.
ShoutingMan.com
Frack the military. Good for nothing but getting good people killed and the bad rewarded.
I do not think that word means what you think it means.
A: ooo...I can't say, ooo...it's top secret...ooo...no comment...ooo...business is business, I'm a hypocrite.
B: Hey! "with classified information" we help protect our country, so show some appreciation!
A: Here's a copy my tax return.
I think you don't quite grasp the exact nature of the problem. It is not that Americans aren't interested in getting advanced engineering degrees, it is rather, that there are 5 or more equally qualified foreign applicants for every opening and our tax-supported (and they all are, either directly or indirectly) institutions don't/won't/can't give American citizens preference. We simply can't get into our own schools.
Well, speaking as an American with a PhD in engineering, my experience is that the majority of undergrads in American engineering programs are generally American, and that majority vanishes at the graduate level. Americans are by far the minority. I had to apply to a graduate program and get selected like the rest, but they were happy to have me come on as a graduate student. Most of my fellow undergrad students took their BS degrees and ran - it was a lifestyle decision, not one of academic competition.
Maybe what you say is true, and in some schools the locally-produced applicants pale in comparison to the quality of foreign applicants. But from what I have seen, having an advanced degree in the sciences or engineering is not something Americans aspire to as a culture. It's easy for five foreign applicants to get in to a degree program when five equally qualified Americans don't want to compete for those spots.
everyone already knows everything government contractors do, no idea is original. it's just a sign of governmental stupidity.
The don't sign the contract. Or offer the DoD your own wording. Something to the effect that "I do R&D for non-military civilian applications. I consult with and market my technology world-wide. If you (the DoD) happen to identify a military application to which my research is applicable, that's your problem."
Have gnu, will travel.
He should have been executed. Knowingly compromising national security is treason. We can't afford these losses anymore.
-Patriot
Big defense contractors have done this stuff and nothing happens to them, maybe a little fine. Presidents "authorizing" missile guidance tech transfers to china..zip, no impeachment or charges (example:clinton/loral) Supposedly allied nations (Israel) caught shopping mil gear we gave them, some missile, to china..nothing happens to them. Chinese and other foreign students all over every research establishment/university in the US..every single possible "crown jewel" tech and sensitive "IP" that exists...nothing, totally legal. A subsidiary of cheney's/halliburton, doing business in iran well past the so called embargo..nothing happens to them.
The professors big crime? He isn't a connected fatcat, that's all.
I really don't know what to think. Everyone is focussed on this unfortunate professor's situation while I'm more concerned about the idea of fighting wars with robots. It's not like any of the information really matters, the Chinese will always be able to make a badassthingamajig just as big or bigger than ours. We fight wars with primitive countries because a war between any two of the permanent U.N. security council members would be armageddon. If we start monitoring and fighting these countries which are unfortunate enough to be our enemy with robots then they'll get super pissed off. What I gathered from the article the technology he shared helped these drones fly better. If that's the case we should be sharing this information with other countries, namely the French, so their planes will stop dropping into the ocean.
"From the depths of my skeptical and rationalist soul, I ask the Lord to protect me from California touchie-feeliedom."
First thing. I'm not war monger. I think every gun on the planet should be destroyed. Even the ones used for "sport", "hunting", blah blah blah.
Now Professor == Smart Guy/Gal you would think. I'm sorry but the parrots that beg for food from me on my balcony are now all saying "Well Duh!". They are clearly smarter than this "Smart Guy". Lets show as many people as we can significant portions of plans for a flying robot that has enough lift capacity and range to be a weapons platform. How dumb can you be.
Many years ago I came up with a method for eliminating driving related accidents. With the exception of accidents caused by factors outside of the control of the driver. It's amazingly cheap and easy to implement. All it requires is ink. That's it.
When I driver commits his/her first obvious idiot move behind the wheel. I mean something really stupid. Like drink driving. Double the speed limit etc. Something that basically could very easily mean someones death. You take their id and then stamp "TO STUPID TO DRIVE" across the front of it. This tag "TO STUPID TO DRIVE" will also be printed on all other forms of identification once they are renewed. This is forever, the shame will follow you to your grave.
Offence #2, Clearly this individual is even dumber than ever imagined. Again ink to the rescue. This time in the form of a tattoo. Square on the forehead. "To Stupid to Drive" and "evirD ot diputS oT" below it.
Now my problem is how do I modify this ink plan of mine to handle this "Smart Guys" moron move?
For starters, the good professor is an idiot. He has worked on DoD contracts, and either knew or should have known that from the moment he started developing on the DoD's dime, any technology he dealt in not already a standard part of a BSEE/CS/Chem/Physics degree program in the US was going to be suspect under ITAR.
In addition, the import and export of any commercial item is subject to review under the Export Administration Regulations of the DoC. And, as Dr. Roth is being reminded the hard way, "export" can occur the moment a foreign national or domestic agent of a foreign nation groks your IP.
You may not agree with the law as it stands, but the Federal Government is on very strong Constitutional ground with respect to whatever border controls it chooses to enact. So, your options are: 1) follow the laws, 2) not follow the laws, and/or 3) bug your representatives to change the law. You can select (2), and many do, but it's kind of like not paying your income taxes for a few years: it sucks big time when you get caught.
Luke, help me take this mask off
it is not a big deal. they act like it was a major leak or something. clearly it wasn't bigger than a 4 year punishment.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
I would be ok if it were say Canadian students, however it was a CHINESE and an IRANIAN. Both those countries are in direct conflict with the United States albeit not under a declared state of war. Iran basically would love to see the United States nuked to the stone-age and China would love to enslave us and enact their human rights oppressing laws on our populace. We cannot allow the conscious proliferation of data regarding military technologies to these countries. For all we know the guy probably got paid by the governments to divulge the information and the "Graduate Students" are now working for their respective governments building technologies that may be used against the United States.
The professor deserves as many years in prison as the FBI Agent Robert Hanssen (dramatized in the movie Breach) that sold secrets to Russia.
Follow the money! The Chinese have so many dollars they're practically burning them. This guy was undoubtedly paid a couple million under the table by the Chinese for his "contribution". It's obvious he made a bundle because he is willing to go to jail for it. All the crap about sharing with graduate students and not reading the regulations is ridiculous. When all is said and done the professor is set for life and we've lost our lead in another technological area. We should change the laws so that we shoot agents of industrial espionage rather than imprison them for a few years.
By sending two students abroad at minimal cost, without having to need any spy training (expensive), two countries unknowingly have managed to not only take out a professor by preventing him from doing further research, but also by steering away part of the federal budget for defence towards the justice system and to prisons. In effect this is a double whammy, slowing down development of evil stuff.
Bert
Who presumes that it is possible by finding Bin laden by listening for laughter from caves every time the TSA budget is published.
They are used *by* the U.S. in *other* countries. No other country uses UAVs as much as we do. And the countries we use them is have, shall we say, rather high crime rates.
Not sure what you're getting at. Your posts are usually much more clear.
-b
No offense, but I've stopped responding to AC's.
If you have signed an agreement telling you not to disclose such things, yes. If you are not associated with the DoD in any way, then typically no. ITAR covers basic physical goods, as in, sending your buddy in China the newest U.S. body armor.
If you are not associated with the DoD, then their stance is basically, 'no one can prove that what he said has anything to do with what we're working on'.
As an uninformed (just technically, no offense) civilian, you are not a threat to national security.
-b
No offense, but I've stopped responding to AC's.
When I was a little kid, I assumed that anybody who had a doctorate must be some kind of Einstein-like genius.
Then I met a few, and at that point began to understand that all that's required in order to obtain a PhD is to memorise a huge amount of info, and understand just enough of it to write a (barely) coherent thesis, then scrape your way through the orals.
...didn't contain information directly relevant to his research! How can he be expected to waste his valuable time reading it? That's what he has Chinese and Iranian grad students for.
Forcing researchers to actually read documents they sign will severely hamper their research output. This is a slippery slope to enforcing acceptable use policies, delaying ethically sensitive experiments for IRB reviews, and punishing careless plagiarism. Does tenure mean nothing?
I'm terribly afraid a certain former adviser of mine could be swept up in this dragnet of red tape. I'd email him a link to this story, but I'm sure he wouldn't have time to read it.
There's no failure quite as dissatisfying as a complete and total solution to the wrong problem.
PhDs aren't granted for common sense.
But there should be a way to take them back if the holder demonstrates remarkable stupidity.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
This is just not true. Witness Phil Zimmerman. There was a case of Soviet fusion physicists running afoul of ITAR because of what they were saying, and the fact that they could hear themselves speak at a US conference. ITAR is not about secret material nor people with clearances.
There are a bunch of things to think about here. I can't believe he ignored a security rule such that... so there must be something else.
I see three main reasons:
- he got money for that, thus making him a spy or a country traitor (and that's a bad thing)
- he thought that such a project was too powerful for a single nation and thus shared it as much as possible, but that's difficult to believe and wouldn't solve anything
- he wanted low-cost engineering help to get some extra-$ in the deal
- he tought the rest of the world is just a suburb of US
I can't believe this man to be just as 'stupid' as it seems!
nop, nop, nop #VBLANK
I presume that ITAR means "International Traffic in Arms Regulations", as per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Traffic_in_Arms_Regulations
But to me as a non-american, it sounds more like Apple's archive format, iTar. You can then iGzip it and create secret_plans.itar.igz
Where is said the information is "classified"? This may be ITAR controlled data, which is not classified.
There is a broad range of information which is not classified, which is not trade-secret, which can be discussed openly...but never with any foreign persons.
It has a good deal of security theater. Data can and will be granted export exceptions if that exception is needed to get the work done for, say, NASA. So it's export prohibited until it must be exported to get the job done, and then it's not export prohibited.
ShoutingMan.com
That should be tattooed on your forehead.
The professor made the mistake of thinking that he could give away our technology when clearly only corporations are allowed to do that. As long as you are making a profit you can sell any secret you want. Just hire a US lobbiest first though. Americans are really dumb.
Discarding the possibility that the US security services have dedicated staff who immediately defend all their actions on every possible website, I can only conclude that mindless nationalism is a characteristic of the lowest lifeforms of all societies, and that the fact that I find this depressing when I find this on Slashdot shows I must be new here.
I will make one observation for their enlightenment. Creative scientists and engineers frequently have trouble with the idiot regulations of security forces. That's because the people in those security forces are frequently literal minded anal retentives (the intelleigent ones would never end up in a dead end job trying to sheepherd scientists.) Let's just mention Richard Feynmann, Robert Oppenheimer and Alan Turing for starters. The US security services destroyed Oppenheimer and the UK security services destroyed Turing. Way to go, dickheads. Fortunately for Feynmann, his tendencies were more towards having fun with naked women than thinking about how society could be made better, and he was left alone.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
how about a friend of yours that you trusted that was of chinese nationality going to the same universe, and wanting to help on this cool new contract with the gov. ...? Sometimes, we think in our "regular" patterns, which may not be the same proper patterns to have in a different milieux.
Yea I agree, Brittish beat the American republics by modeling after the shoot-and-run strategy with the far superior Alabama Hickory Mustkettes and counterfeit revolvers, until the common-law assented to statehood by re-organizing from Franlin's TeamUSA to Adam's & Jefferson's JustUS.
Who cares what anyone said, we need to proprietorize superior technology, starting with these teflon shoe laces.
I know this brother's actions have caused the deaths of others before, but he's never lied to me!
In some time past, a known Professor in good faith in a scholastic position neither disclosed or shared classified information with a known enemy. At the moment of his participation with known friendly personell, did complement his fellow scientist on Natural theory and lawful locomotion known to the entire solar system. At no time ever was any information disclosed that could have caused the deaths of one lesser nation to be increased at the hands of an aggressor and neither has a violation of any Contracted law made itself known that our Professor would have admitted a conflict in the interest of military intelligence. We wouldn't want any rumor to yield into a panic and suggest that you move along as there is nothing more to see here.
Stop this at once! Sedate that man and return him back to his cell!
Doesn't it sound insane to classify an entire foreign nation confederated to others in a heavily suppressed and enslaved market of ill principles to compete with a free and loving nation or state, and they enauge in a delapidated trade with one-another despite their unequality and unfar gain?
If you want to help the united States of America, then 1st ask the Several States to command the United States and it's (not theirs, but it's) U.S. Army Inc to seize all foreign-made goods imported to sell and have references to fairer trade for the people looking among theirselves with difficulty for a customary exchange.
This post was brougt to you from an All-American original DEC (nothing-Samsung) 64-bit Alpha computer. All the foreigners have already devastated the semiconductor market. Just ask NTE Electronics, or walk into any form RadioShack.