Navy civilian worker sentenced to 11 years in prison for attempted espionage

NORFOLK, Va. — A 36-year-old Virginia man has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for providing schematics of an aircraft carrier under construction to someone he believed was an Egyptian intelligence officer.

Mostafa Awwad of Yorktown received the sentence in federal court in Norfolk on Thursday.

Court records say Awwad tried to steal technical data in the designs of the USS Gerald R. Ford. The Ford is the first of the United States' next generation of aircraft carrier. Awwad provided computer drawings downloaded from the Navy to an undercover FBI agent.

Awwad worked as a civilian engineer at a Navy shipyard. Awwad faced a maximum penalty of life in prison for attempted espionage, but his plea agreement recommended a sentence of no more than 11 years.

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