Navy engineer accused in carrier plot attended Old Dominion University, lived in York subdivision (Daily Press)
The Navy engineer accused of attempting to sell design drawings of America’s newest aircraft carrier to the Egyptian government lived with his family in a well-known York County subdivision and received a bachelor’s degree from Old Dominion University last year.
Mostafa Ahmed Awwad — who until last week worked as a civilian engineer at Norfolk Naval Shipyard — stands accused of trying to sell the schematics of the Gerald R. Ford carrier to an FBI special agent who was posing as an Egyptian intelligence officer. . .
. . . Before his Friday arrest, Awwad lived with his wife, two children and two cats in a town home in the 200 block of Wrought Iron Bend, in the Smithy Glen neighborhood of Coventry. That’s a large subdivision off George Washington Memorial Highway, near Big Bethel Reservoir.
It’s also the rented home that a handful of FBI agents swooped in on Friday, with neighbors saying the agents showed up in several SUVs.
Aside from the home, Awwad’s two vehicles — a black 2001 BMW and a tan 2002 Mercury Mountaineer — were also searched, as was a storage unit on J. Clyde Morris Boulevard in Newport News. Both vehicles remained parked outside the town home Monday afternoon. . . .
Four neighbors declined to be identified for this story, though some expressed surprise that Awwad was accused of the crime. Some said that Awwad’s wife, especially, seemed warm and friendly, though only one of the four neighbors said he knew the family well. . . .
. . . Court documents say Awwad was born in Saudi Arabia in 1979, and married his spouse — a U.S. citizen — in May 2007 in Cairo, Egypt, where he began the U.S. immigration process. Kimball said Awwad came to the U.S. that same year, and became an American citizen “two or three years ago.”
Awwad attended Old Dominion University in Norfolk, graduating in December 2013 with a bachelor’s of science in electrical engineering, the school’s registrar confirmed Tuesday.
While at ODU, Awwad wrote an in-depth research paper about the “integration and optimization” of a life-support system for heart tissue, according to a web posting from his professor on the project, Christian Zemlin. The professor did not return phone or email messages this week.
In February, Awwad landed the job as an engineer at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, in the nuclear engineering and planning department, an affidavit said. In August, Awwad was issued a security clearance giving him access to classified information.
Awwad had access to information concerning the design, development, maintenance and repair of propulsion plants onboard nuclear-powered ships, the affidavit says. The nuclear power systems are among the most closely guarded sections of an aircraft carrier. . . . (read more)
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TRIVIA
What other spy attended Old Dominion University? Glenn Souther
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The mysterious case of Glenn Souther, US defector to the USSR
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