US naval engineer, wife tried to sell nuclear secrets to Brazil

[Judi Lynn]

By JULIAN E. BARNES, ANDRÉ SPIGARIOL, JACK NICAS AND ADAM GOLDMAN
THE NEW YORK TIMES |
MAR 15, 2022 AT 7:26 PM

WASHINGTON — In 2020, a U.S. naval engineer and his wife made the fateful decision to try to sell some of America’s most closely guarded military secrets, the technology behind the nuclear reactors that power the U.S. submarine fleet.

. . .

The engineer appeared to believe that soliciting U.S. adversaries like Russia or China was, morally, a bridge too far, according to text messages released in court. Instead, Jonathan and Diana Toebbe thought of a country that was rich enough to buy the secrets, not hostile to the United States and, most importantly, increasingly eager to acquire the very technology they were selling: Brazil.

The identity of the nation approached by the Toebbes has until now remained shielded by federal prosecutors and other government officials. But, according to a senior Brazilian official and other people briefed on the investigation, Jonathan Toebbe approached Brazil nearly two years ago with an offer of thousands of pages of classified documents about nuclear reactors that he had stolen from the U.S. Navy Yard in Washington over the course of several years.

The plan backfired almost as soon as it began. After Jonathan Toebbe sent a letter offering the secrets to Brazil’s military intelligence agency in April 2020, Brazilian officials handed the letter over to the FBI legal attaché in the country.

More:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-aud-nw-nyt-submarine-spy-couple-20220316-znh35po4eneqxjqtvabt4rnr5i-story.html

Also posted in LBN:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142888890