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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.'"
"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.
I guarantee you that the Chinese and Iranian military tech exploitation guys can get around the Great Firewall Of China.
He has to suffer because he's a fucking traitor. If it were up to me, he would have gotten a lot worse than 4 yrs. Oh, and a "genius" would know better.
Are agnostics skeptical of unicorns too?