U.S. Space Researcher Arrested on Spy Charges

There are not a lot of details yet in the report of a top U.S. space researcher who was arrested in an FBI sting Monday and charged with attempting to spy for Israel.

Stewart Nozette, 52 years old, of Chevy Chase, Md., is a former government physicist who worked for agencies ranging from the Defense Department to the White House.

In exchange for thousands of dollars in cash and an Israeli passport, Mr. Nozette attempted to pass on U.S. top secret nuclear and space secrets to an FBI agent who was posing as an Israeli intelligence operative, according to an FBI affidavit filed with the criminal complaint in the case.

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Nozette, 52, was arrested shortly after 4:00 p.m. at the Mayflower Hotel in downtown Washington by counterespionage agents from the FBI’s Washington field office after he believed he was meeting with agents from the Mossad to pass information to them in exchange for money, the Justice Department said.

Obama To Get Top Secret CIA Briefing

President-elect Barack Obama will learn the full “burdens of office” tomorrow when he receives his first top secret briefing from the Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell.

McConnell will be accompanied by the CIA’s top intelligence analyst, Michael Morel, the Director for Intelligence, and two senior CIA briefers, intelligence officials tell ABCNews.com.

Morel will take over the briefing responsibility for the President-elect through the transition after tomorrow’s initial session, officials say.

Top Obama advisers are eager to begin a strategic shift in counter-terrorism policy with a much greater focus and commitment of resources to going after al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani tribal region.

Officials say the President-elect will learn the CIA still has no specific information on the whereabouts of bin Laden but has a much better set of leads on the location of bin Laden’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahari.

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