Ex-Pratt Worker Allegedly Tried to Ship F-35 Files to Iran SecurityInfoWatch (01/16/14) Dowling, Brian Defense contractor Pratt & Whitney announced on Jan. 13 that it is cooperating with an investigation into former employee Mozaffar Khazaee, who allegedly attempted to pass information on the U.S. militarys Joint Strike Fighter aircraft to Iran. According to investigators, Khazaee tried to ship thousands of pages of documents, diagrams, blueprints, and technical manuals to Iran before he was laid off from Pratt & Whitney in August along with hundreds of other employees. Aircraft described in the documents included Lockheed Martins F-35 Lightning II and an engine that may have been designed for the F-35 by GE and Rolls-Royce. Khazaee was intercepted by federal agents at Newark Liberty International Airport on Jan. 15 as he attempted to flee to Iran via Germany. The documents, meanwhile, were intercepted by customs agents in late November at a port in Long Beach, Calif. where they were labeled as household goods and were scheduled to be loaded onto the NYK Libra. Ultimately, the documents were meant to end up in the hands of Khazaees brother-in-law Mohammad Payendah in Iran.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Jan 2014 22:10:06 +0000