North Brunswick Woman Sold Classified Weapons Info to Middle East, India and Pakistan, Feds Charge

North Brunswick, NJ - A North Brunswick female defense contractor was sentenced Thursday for trading highly classified military information with buyers in India, Pakistan and the Middle East, all without clearance from the U.S. State Department or Department of Defense.

And in a twist, she used her church's website to upload and transmit sensitive military data overseas, federal prosecutors charge.

Hannah Robert, 50, has already pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act.

She was sentenced to 57 months in prison Thursday, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said. From 2010 to 2012, she ran her military supply company out of her Mount Laurel home, but her most recent home address is in North Brunswick, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office told Patch.

Illegally sent plans for nuclear submarine torpedoes, military attack helicopters and F-15s

In June 2010, Robert was the founder and owner of One Source USA, a company she operated out of her then home in Mount Laurel. She contracted with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to supply military hardware items and spare parts for fighter planes.

Along with a resident of India identified in court documents only as “P.R.,” Robert owned and operated another company located in India that also manufactured military hardware.

From June 2010 to December 2012, Robert conspired with her Indian business partner to send him dozens of classified military drawings, describing how to build parts used in the torpedo systems for nuclear submarines, in military attack helicopters, and in F-15 fighter aircraft.

She sent all the drawings without first obtaining clearance from the U.S. Department of State, federal prosecutors say.

“We will vigorously prosecute and bring to justice those who abuse their access to sensitive defense information," said Assistant U.S. Attorney General for National Security John Carlin.

Used her church website to transmit thousands of classified military files

One of Robert's clients was an individual purporting to be “an official contractor of the UAE Ministry of Defence,” and who listed a business address in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The client asked for quotations for a bid for the “blanket assembly” of a CH-47F Chinook military helicopter, and said the helicopter would be used by the UAE Armed Forces.

Within a day, Robert replied, sending the client classified technical drawings used to assemble a Chinook attack helicopter.

Later, in October 2010 she uploaded those same Chinook military drawings to the password-protected website of a Camden County church where she was a volunteer web administrator. This was done without the knowledge of the church staff.

Robert e-mailed P.R. the username and password to the church website so that he could download the files in India. Through the course of the scheme, Robert uploaded thousands of technical drawings to the church website for P.R. to download in India — all without the U.S. government's knowledge.

In one email, dated June 25, 2012, P.R. requested she provide him the church web site username and password. He wanted to access the files so he could provide a quote to a military weapons broker for an end user in Pakistan. The broker used a UAE shipping address. Later that day, Robert replied to his e-mail, providing a new username and password for the church website so that P.R. could download the military instructions.

Robert also sold faulty parts for F-15 fighter planes, prosecutors say

Prosecutors say there were also quality issues with some of the parts that Robert provided to the Department of Defense.

For example, certain parts she sold used in the wings of F-15 fighter aircraft failed. When asked about those parts, Robert and P.R. provided false material certifications and inspection reports for them, claiming they were manufactured at One Source USA’s New Jersey address. In reality, they were manufactured in India, prosecutors say.

As a result of the failed wing pins, the DoD grounded approximately 47 F-15 fighter aircraft for inspection and repair, at a cost estimated in excess of $150,000.

Until November 2012, Robert was an employee of a separate defense contractor in Burlington County, where she worked as a system analyst. While there, she had access to thousands of drawings marked with classified warnings and information on the contractor’s bids on DoD contracts.

As part of her sentence, she must serve three years of supervised release after her prison time and pay $181,015.27 in restitution.

Photo: F-15 fighter plans firing AIM-7Ms/Wikimedia Commons