Accused spy in pretrial hearings
POSTED: Saturday, January 10, 2009
A veteran of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations said he was stunned by the admissions accused traitor Noshir Gowadia made in October 2005 during interviews with the man who marketed himself as the “;father”; of the secret technology that helps B-2 stealth bombers evade heat-seeking missiles.
”;This took my breath away,”; said Joseph Williams. “;I have never heard anything like this before.”;
Williams said among Gowadia's admissions was that he helped the Chinese government design a cruise missile that can evade infrared detection. He said Gowadia repeated his admissions in a written statement.
“;On reflection, what I did was wrong to help (People's Republic of China) make a cruise missile. What I did was espionage and treason,”; Gowadia said in the written statement.
Williams testified yesterday during pretrial motions in Gowadia's criminal trial in federal court here.
Gowadia, 65, is facing 21 charges accusing him of selling secrets about the B-2 bomber to China, trying to sell military secrets to other countries, money laundering and making false statements. His trial is scheduled for April.
The government is also trying to seize Gowadia's Maui home.
Gowadia is trying to persuade U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor to throw out statements he made following a search of his home on Maui on Oct. 13, 2005. He is also asking Gillmor to throw out statements he made at Honolulu Airport in 2004 when government officials seized his laptop computer.
A hearing on Gowadia's request will continue next week. His lawyers have not indicated whether Gowadia will testify.
Williams said he interviewed Gowadia on nine separate days in October 2005. He said he found Gowadia to be intellectually brilliant but also egotistical. He said Gowadia gets frustrated when one does not see things the way he does.
Gowadia was an engineer for Northrop Corp. when he designed the B-2's propulsion system. At the time of his arrest, he was being considered for a subcontractor job to design a similar system for commercial aircraft.