This person helped India get secret US military data

The US defence’s highly-confidential military technical data seems to have gone for a toss during a period of 2010-2012, an Economic Times report revealed. Hannah Robert, owner of defence contracting businesses in the US, has pleaded guilty before the US District Judge Anne Thompson for violating the Arms Export Control Act by exporting the military technical drawings to India without prior approval from the US Department of State.

According to documents filed in the case, from June 2010 to December 2012, the 49-year-old has conspired to export to India defence technical drawings of parts used in the torpedo systems for nuclear submarines, military attack helicopters and F-15 fighter aircrafts.

The ET report revealed that Robert founded One Source USA and Caldwell Components that contracted with the US Department of Defence to supply defence hardware as well as spare parts.

Robert owned and operated a third firm located in India that manufactured defence hardware and spare parts along with an Indian resident, identified in the complaint only as 'PR'. In a serious breach of trust, Robert sent export-controlled technical data to PR in India so that the two could submit bids to foreign actors, including those in the UAE and Pakistan, to supply them or their foreign customers with defence hardware and spare parts, the financial daily stated.

The modus operandi for Robert included transmitting military drawings to India by posting the technical data to the password-protected website of a New Jersey church where she was a volunteer web administrator.

She uploaded thousands of technical drawings to the church website for PR to download in India through the course of the scheme.

Taking no risk, the defence department in the US grounded nearly 47 F-15 fighter aircraft for repair and inspection, at a cost estimated to exceed $ 150,000. As part of her plea agreement, Robert will have to pay $ 181,000 to the defence department, including the cost of repair for the grounded F-15s.

Robert also consented to a forfeiture money judgment of about $ 78,000, which represents the dollar value of the fraudulent contracts with the department.

(Image: India Times)