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FILD

IN OPEN COURT

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE

OCT 2 R 2015

EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA

COURT

N.-W^CRT news, va

Newport News Division

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Criminal No. 4:15mj

V.

GLENN A. WOODELL,
Defendant

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The parties stipulate that the allegations in the Criminal Information and the following
facts are true and correct, and that had the matter gone to trial the United States would have
proven the following facts beyond a reasonable doubt:

1.

Defendant, GLENN A. WOODELL, was an employee of the National Aeronautics

and Space Administration ("NASA") from February 7, 1983 to January 2, 2015, and was
employed as an Engineering Technician at the NASA Langley Research Center ("LaRC") located
in Hampton, Virginia, during all times pertinent to this Information. While working at LaRC
during the 2010 to 2013 time period, WOODELL was assigned to work in the Electromagnetics
and Sensor Branch and, while there, worked with NASA Research Physicist Daniel Jobson and

NASA Research Scientist Dr. Zia Rahman on a NASA research and development project that was
known as Smart Visual Awareness ("SVA") which involved the subject of visual information
processing technology for a NASA aviation safety program.

WOODELL, Jobson and Rahman

together constituted the Visual Information Processing Lab (the "VIP Lab").

NASA is an

agency of the United States government responsible for managing the research and development

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of the U.S. civilian space program and space science technology and for federal management and
development of aeronautic and aerospace research.

2. Bo Jiang was a citizen of the People's Republic of China (the "PRC"). From on or
about January 2011 through January 2013, Jiang was employed as a Research Scientist by the
National Institute of Aerospace ("NIA"), a non-profit research and graduate education institute
formed by a consortium of research universities to support the mission of NASA. For four
years prior to that, Jiang was a graduate student of Dr. Zia Rahman while at Old Dominion
University.

While employed by NIA, Jiang was assigned to work under "NIA Activity 2828 -

Pattern Recognition Research" ("Activity 2828"), which was a project designed to provide
research support to the VIP Lab at the NASA LaRC for the specific and limited task on
enhancing the VIP Lab's Multi-Scale Retinex with Color Restoration ("MSRCR") so that it
would be possible to achieve the performance requirements needed for real-time applications.

3.

During the time Jiang worked at the NASA LaRC VIP Lab under Activity 2828,

Jiang was under the supervision and direction of WOODELL and Daniel Jobson.

While

WOODELL had responsibility for a range of NASA work assignments, from 2010 through the
end of 2012 the majority of WOODELL's work was devoted to the enhancement of the MSRCR

for real-time application.

Dr. Rahman had been working with WOODELL and Jobson on the

Atmospheric Environment Safety Technologies project (the "AEST Project") prior to Dr.
Rahman's death in December 2010.

4.

From in or about January 2011 through June 18, 2012, Jobson was assigned to serve

and assumed official responsibility as Jiang's NASA sponsor under a written NASA
Security/Technology Transfer Control Plan ("STTCP").

From June 18, 2012 until January

2013, WOODELL took over the role as Jiang's NASA sponsor pursuant to a written STTCP.

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This STTCP was a WTitten security plan for the purpose of implementing and enforcing existing
NASA policies and procedures to prevent any unauthorized transfer of export controlled
information to Jiang in connection with his work at NASA, The STTCP required WOODELL
to ensure that Jiang's access to information was limited to information that was unclassified,
non-sensitive, non-export controlled that was directly applicable to the tasks assigned to Jiang.
Further, WOODELL stated that he had read and fully understood the STTCP and acknowledged

that Jiang was "not authorized access to any other technical data, hardware or software, or IT
systems" not otherwise specified in the STTP.

5.

For the entire time WOODELL was employed as a NASA employee, he was

subject to and responsible for all NASA administrative rules, regulations, orders, policy
directives and NASA Procedural Requirements, including all those applicable to the security of
NASA information technology and information security within the scope of his duties.
6.

From in or about January 2011 through June 18, 2012, Jobson was Jiang's sponsor

and directed his NASA work with the VIP Lab under Activity 2828.

From June 18, 2012 until

January 2013, WOODELL was Jiang's sponsor and directed his work with the VIP Lab under
Activity 2828.

WOODELL and Jobson knew that during 2010 and 2011 there was in operation

an official NASA computer which had been used by then deceased NASA Research Scientist,
Dr. Zia Rahman and which was located Dr. Rahman's office at the LaRC (the "Rahman NASA

Computer").

Prior to his death. Dr. Rahman had been working with WOODELL and Jobson on

the AEST Project until his death in December 2010.

WOODELL and Jobson believed that the

Rahman NASA Computer contained digital and data information which related to Dr. Rahman's
prior work, including work done for NASA.

Both WOODELL and Jobson knew that the

Rahman NASA Computer had been connected to the central NASA Information Technology

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System (commonly referred to as the "Orange Network") prior to Dr. Rahman's death in
December 2010.

7. In early 2011, WOODELL and Jobson assisted Jiang in getting direct access to the
data stored in the Rahman NASA Computer because neither WOODELL nor Jobson had a

working knowledge or skills necessary to read or understand the programming language and
operating system of the Rahman NASA Computer.

Subsequently, for this same reason,

WOODELL and Jobson provided Jiang with a copy of a digital image copy of the Rahman NASA
Computer hard drive because they believed that Jiang would be able read and possibly use the
programming code used by Dr. Rahman in support of the AEST Project. WOODELL and Jobson

asked Jiang to try to read and interpret the files stored in the Rahman NASA Computer to assist
with the ongoing AEST work, including any of Dr. Rahman's work that may have been relevant to
Activity 2828. WOODELL did not have any independent knowledge of any of the contents of the
Rahman NASA Computer given that he had never had any prior access to the computer. Thus, in

spring 2011, WOODELL and Jobson, through Branch management, asked another NASA
employee, CW#1, to archive and copy the Rahman NASA Computer in order to support of their

ongoing AEST Project. CW#1 was able to archive the entirety of the data on the Rahman NASA
Computer hard drive, but was not able to interpret any of the file contents. For these reasons,
WOODELL and Jobson allowed Jiang access to the archive copy of the Rahman NASA Computer
hard drive.

8.

By 2011, the Rahman NASA Computer had been disconnected from the NASA

Orange Network.

Jobson provided the NASA employee with Dr. Rahman's prior User

Identifier information and password to facilitate access to the Rahman NASA Computer, which
information had been provided by a NASA central information technology computer system

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administrator.

At the direction of WOODELL, Jobson and branch management, CW#1

transferred the information from the Rahman NASA Computer to the new, unused external hard
drive.

WOODELL knew of the actions to (i) make a full image copy of the Rahman NASA

Computer; (ii) directly copy and image the Rahman NASA Computer without any access
restriction and without any provision for information review; and (iii) provide unrestricted access

of the information contained in the Rahman NASA Computer to Jiang.

At no time did

WOODELL ever act to secure, protect or fully restrict Jiang's access to the information

contained on the Rahman NASA Computer and thereby failed to protect NASA information
from unauthorized disclosure by providing a foreign national with complete and unrestricted
access to a NASA Computer and the information contained therein.

9.

After NASA and NIA terminated Jiang's work on Project 2828 on or around

December 2012, Jiang made arrangements to leave the United States and return to his home in

the PRC.

On March 16, 2013, Jiang attempted to travel from the United States to the PRC in

possession of a number of electronic devices.

Specifically, he was attempting to take a Seagate

External Hard Drive, serial number 2GH2YSJR, that contained the NASA unauthorized,

unrestricted access information from the Rahman NASA Computer.

Prior to departure for the

United States, Jiang was interviewed by U.S. law enforcement officers, who conducted a border

search of his luggage in whieh the Seagate External Hard Drive, serial number 2GH2YSJR,
containing the NASA unauthorized, unrestricted access information of the Rahman NASA
Computer was found and detained.

10.

NASA Policy Directive (the "NPD") 2810.ID, "NASA Information Security

Policy," Section 1 states that it is NASA policy to "(b) Protect information from unauthorized

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disclosure.. .while the information is...stored."

Section 2(a) states that "NASA employees shall

abide by the requirements of this directive when they perform Agency missions."
11. NASA Policy Procedural Requirements 1600.4, Sections 4.1.1, 4.2.1 and 4.7.1,

"Identity and Credential Management" sets forth a range of mandatory security procedure
requirements for all NASA employees who sponsor a foreign national, including identifying
foreign nationals and controlling their access to resources such as NASA Information
Technology systems thorough user rights and restrictions.

Specifically, Section 4.7.1 states that

any NASA employee serving as the sponsor for a foreign national will "ensure that the foreign
national's access requirements as documented in the TTCP are adhered to throughout the foreign
national's [NASA] on-site assignment," which includes adhering to all required restrictions to
NASA physical and Information Technology resources.
12.

NASA Procedural Requirements (the "NPR") 2810.1 A, "Security of Information

Technology" sets forth a range of mandatory security procedure requirements for all NASA
employees who use NASA Information Technology (referred to as a "NASA User").

Section

1.2.3.13 states that "the NASA User shall comply with all policy and procedures as required by
this NPR."

Section 3.6.6.4 states that "[t]he NASA User shall mitigate the risks of data loss by

securing and protecting media under their control, and the information contained on/within those
devices, through use of encryption, access restriction, and/or sanitization."

13.

NASA Policy Directive 2810.ID, NASA Policy Procedural Requirement 1600.4,

and NASA Procedural Requirements 2810.1 A each constitute an Order of the NASA
Administrator that was in existence at all times relevant to WOODELL's employment at NASA.
NASA Policy Directive 2810.ID, NASA Policy Procedural Requirements 1600.4 and NASA

Procedural Requirements 2810.1 A was promulgated for the protection of NASA Information

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Technology and all information contained therein from any unauthorized access, disclosure or
use by all NASA employees and users of NASA Information Technology.
14. During 2011 and 2012, GLENN A. WOODELL had knowledge of NASA policy
and procedures that were in place and in force to prevent or restrict access of foreign nationals to
NASA information contained on the NASA Information Technology system.

By providing

Jiang with, or causing Jiang to obtain, access to information from the Rahman NASA Computer
and thereafter continuing to knowingly allow Jiang to exercise access thereto without taking any

action to protect that information from unauthorized disclosure, or mitigating the risk of data loss
by securing and protecting this information while under his control through the use of
encryption, access restrictions and/or sanitation, WOODELL acted in violation of NPD 2810.ID,
NPR 1600.4 and NPR 2810.1 A.

15.

These events occurred in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Respectfully submitted,
Dana J. Boente

United St^es Attorney

By:
Lisa R. McKeel

Assistant United States Attorney

By:
A. William Mackie

Special Assistant United States Attorney

Trial Attorney
Counterespionage Section, National Security Division
United States Department of Justice

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After consulting with my attorney and pursuant to the Plea Agreement entered into this
day between the defendant, GLENN A. WOODELL, and the United States, I hereby stipulate
that the above Statement of Facts is true and accurate, and that had the matter proceeded to trial,
the United States would have proved the same beyond a reasonable doubt.

GLENN A. WOODELL

I am GLENN A. WOODELL's attorney.

of Facts with him.

I have carefully reviewed the above Statement

To my knowledge, his decision to stipulate to these facts is an informed and

voluntary one.

Fernando Groene

Attorney for GLENNT A. WOODELL

jy
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