Sorry, but there's nothing classified about the Space Shuttle, as this silly headline implies:
Former Boeing Engineer Charged with Economic Espionage in Theft of Space Shuttle Secrets for China
If one reads the article, what is really at issue is Rockwell (now Boeing) trade secrets--that is, proprietary information, presumably on things like materials and manufacturing techniques. Language like this simply reinforces the mistaken notion of many that NASA, and the Shuttle program, are military in nature. Not that that excuses the spy, of course--he should still be prosecuted, because in theory, it could help the Chinese advance their technology. Though in the case of the Shuttle, as Charles Lurio notes in an email, it will probably set them back ten years.
Of course, if we really wanted to set them back and keep them planet bound, we'd send them the current plans for Ares and Orion...
[Update a few minutes later]
Just in case anyone is wondering, while this guy presumably worked in Downey during the eighties, I never knew him, or even heard of him, until now.
It may also say something about ITAR that this 'headline' was on an official document from the US State Department...
Um. During the time he was supposedly getting data for the PRC, the shuttle was routinely carrying classified payloads, and had classified crypto gear on board.
During the time he was supposedly getting data for the PRC, the shuttle was routinely carrying classified payloads, and had classified crypto gear on board.
True, and irrelevant. The article talks about trade secrets relating to the Shuttle, not classified payloads or equipment. There was nothing classified about the Shuttle itself.
Not meaning to beat a dead horse, but "Economic Espionage" in the title is quite different than the other kind (stealing defense secrets). Readers of SpaceRef.com would know about the type of charges.
"During the time he was supposedly getting data for the PRC, the shuttle was routinely carrying classified payloads, and had classified crypto gear on board."
This is a meaningless and misleading statement, meaning no personal disrespect.
What you say may be true but I can absolutely assure you the at that time the best source of information related to such was Aviation Week.
While the technology may not be classified, its transfer to foreign countries is tightly controlled, particularly after political silliness involving Loral and Hughes in the mid-90s. Every US payload that goes up on a foreign rocket has the prep carefully watched by one or more govt folks from an agency whose initials I'm sure you're aware of - starts with D, ends with A. All documents are marked and monitored prior to being sent overseas. One of their boys is in the room for every meeting involving the US tech team and the foreign team. There is plenty of tech on the shuttle and the Delta IV that still qualifies for such oversight.
Trade secrets like materials and manufacturing techniques are actually the hard part of reverse-engineering a technology. That's why companies tend to not patent that information: once the process is out there, it's very hard to tell whether your competition is using it in their manufacturing facility and sue them for infringement.
A couple of historical examples are the Russian Tu-4 bomber and Britain's atomic bomb program. The Tu-4 was a copy of confiscated B-29 bombers that made emergency landings in the Soviet Union during WW2. However, the Soviets were unable to effectively fabricate the integrated wing fuel tanks of the B-29 and had to revert to a less-efficient conventional design, resulting in reduced range. Britain's bomb development was stymied for a couple of years while they tried to identify a ceramic material appropriate for casting plutonium pits. The trick was to find something that didn't react with the molten plutonium. If they'd known what the US had already determined, it would've accelerated development considerably.
The shuttle used a lot of cutting-edge materials for the '70s, and as we know, just about anything that can fly on a spacecraft can also find a use in a ballistic missile. That shuttle information may also have told the Chinese a lot about US strategic weapons.
You should know better. The Space Shuttle is definitely covered by ITAR. See, e.g. the USML at
http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/offdocs/itar/p121.htm
BBB
The shuttle used a lot of cutting-edge materials for the '70s, and as we know, just about anything that can fly on a spacecraft can also find a use in a ballistic missile. That shuttle information may also have told the Chinese a lot about US strategic weapons.
I didn't say it wasn't useful (well, all right, I actually did, for other reasons...). The point is that when most people read the word "secrets" they assume that it means government-classified information. It may indeed be protected under ITAR (not an argument that holds much sway with me, given how much that irrational regime has almost destroyed our domestic space industry), but I don't think that warrants the press hysteria about it.
I also think that even if China is developing missiles based on Shuttle technology, that is we can't shoot them down with modern technology, we need a new DoD procurement process...
This is a meaningless and misleading statement, meaning no personal disrespect.
Yeah, right. But certain aspects of the Shuttle program were classified and remain so today. I had a clearance at JSC for a while for that reason.
And although the article is silent on if classified data were compromised, they may never press charges since it is easier to do a trial on economic espionage charges. Don't need to reveal what the classified data were, etc.
Economic espionage is a major concern of the feds and has been for quite a while. I worked for a non-NASA contractor before the USSR fell and had a security clearance there. The FBI came each year to give us a refresher on classified data protection. One year the major part of the briefing was on economic espionage. We were told that if we traveled on business that we could count on having our rooms bugged and phones bugged if we visited certain countries because the intel agencies in other countries routinely did economic espionage, and not just in the Communist bloc. *cough*France*cough*